Free Market Institute Threatened With Arrest at Union-Led Trainings

Illinois Policy Institute reports:

Starting in October, home-based caregivers have been required to attend “training sessions” organized by the state and led by the SEIU. The state is paying the SEIU as much as $2 million to conduct these so-called “trainings,” which some participants have told us is nothing more than a heavy-handed union membership drive. As part of the training, caregivers are expected to listen to a half-hour long pitch for union membership. The SEIU is allowed to distribute and collect union membership cards before, after and during the so-called training.

Illinois Policy staff members have been present outside most of these training sessions, peacefully passing out literature and letting attendees, know that because of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Harris v. Quinn, they are not obligated to join the union or pay any union dues anymore.

The SEIU has been visibly upset at our presence. SEIU staffers have harassed us by shouting and confiscating our literature from caregivers’ hands and bags as they enter the meeting room. This week, their tactics intensified: The SEIU complained to the state about our presence in public buildings, and Illinois Policy was threatened with arrest.

State police at both the Rockford CMS building and the Bilandic building in downtown Chicago have threatened members of the Illinois Policy team with arrest. In Rockford, members of our team were told we were only allowed in these public buildings if we did not talk to people about leaving the union.

Those who aren't into the free market in wages, certainly aren't fans of free speech for everyone.