Kansas Helps SEIU Using Taxpayer Funds and State Resources

At the beginning of September, we received several letters and emails from Kansas health care providers reporting on notices that Kansas state departments had sent them. The letters, printed on KS Department letterhead and bearing the name of the Governor, were asking for the providers “name, address and phone number” to hand over to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

The SEIU had contacted the KS Department of Aging and the Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services asking for state health care providers information for the purposes of unionizing them. These Departments did not have this information on hand. Rather than simply telling the SEIU “sorry, we don’t have that”, they spent thousands of taxpayer dollars and state resources to gather this information.

When we contacted Gov. Parkinson’s office to request correspondence between their Departments and the SEIU, and to determine how much this cost the taxpayers of Kansas, we were told “the Governor’s office is not in possession of any information.”

Following up with the Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services, we were told they spent almost $5,000 to print and collect this personal information on behalf of the SEIU. Secretary Don Jordon said in an email to us, “I support the effort to get union information to workers paid with state revenue.”

We have yet to receive the amount of taxpayer funds the Department of Aging spent.

The practice of states using their resources and taxpayer dollars to collect personal data for unions is spreading. Illinois’ temporary Gov is doing the same thing. Illinois currently provides state funding to approximately 3,000 residents to assist family members with developmental disabilities through the Illinois’ Home-based Support Services Program. The personal information of people enrolled in the Support Services Program was distributed to two unions in accordance with Executive Order 09-15 which states, “the Department of Human Services shall provide to an organization interested in representing individual providers access to the names and addresses of current individual providers.”

We have not received a response from Quinn’s office to our requests similar to those made in Kansas.

With unionization declining, expect to see more and more pressure being placed on state Governors to use their Departments to “bailout” the failing labor movement.