Photo courtesy https://www.flickr.com/photos/functoruser/
Photo courtesy https://www.flickr.com/photos/functoruser/

The U.S. Supreme Court will likely decide a case today with big implications for the state and the nation’s unions.

Several reports say a decision in the case Harris v. Quinn is expected today. Pamela Harris is one of 8 plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit. She cares for her mentally disabled son at home, but because she takes roughly $20-to-$25,000 a year in Medicaid benefits, the state requires her to pay union dues.

Paul Kersey from the Illinois Policy Institute joined us Friday.

“This is a very important case for government employee unions. They have a lot at stake. They can gain new fields that they can expand in to and organize or they can lose a ton of money and power that they have.”

He says the court can do one of three things: the court can allow Harris to be unionized, the court can say unions aren’t allowed to collect fees from everyone or say that unions can only charge fees to what he calls “traditional” union members.