Add The New York Post on Google Nearly 200,000 people paid to care for disabled loved ones through Gov. Kathy Hochul’s $11 billion Medicaid-funded homecare program will hold a vote on whether to unionize — a move that could mean higher costs for taxpayers.
The politically influential 1199 SEIU union would also grow in sway and net a big payday from the new members’ membership dues from those paid through the terminally troubled Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program, or CDPAP.
The union vote would massively boost SEIU’s 450,000 member ranks in what would be the largest union vote in history, according to the organization. Critics fear unionization would mean higher costs for the program, which would eventually be passed onto taxpayers.
Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at a press conference. William Farrington for NY Post The labor union had been expected to push a unionization effort from the start of the changeover in 2025 but it officially filed paperwork with the National Labor Relations Board Tuesday. No date for a vote has been set.
Hochul overhauled the program so that one company — Public Partnerships LLC — managed payroll for CDPAP, a move many viewed as a gift to the union even as switchover has been rife with issues including workers going unpaid and even accusations of fraud.
The Democratic governor has also been dogged by allegations that the bidding process for its $1 billion CDPAP contract was crafted to favor PPL.
The Department of Justice alleged in a lawsuit filed in June that Hochul’s cronies at the Department of Health rigged the bid for PPL and then let the company bilk more Medicaid dollars on the back end.
“If this goes forward, it will amount to the biggest abuse of the Medicaid program in its history,” Manhattan Institute Fellow Ken Girardin said.
Approximately 65,000 personal assistants signed onto the program, sources said.
A PPL spokesperson wrote said the company is remaining neutral in the effort and that it “respects the right of every Personal Assistant to decide for themselves” whether to unionize. The company has signed a neutrality deal with the group out of the gate.
Health Department Spokesperson Cadence Aquaviva said DOH “has no official position on the push for unionization” and noted that the state would have final say before approving a rate increase that may result from 1199 ultimately winning the election and bargaining with PPL.
Members of 1199SEIU hold signs at a press conference with Hochul last year. Gregory P. Mango “We will continue to deliver a program that provides quality care for patients, workers, fair pay for workers, and the most effective use of taxpayer dollars,” Hochul spokesperson Jonah Allon wrote in a statement to The Post.
A low turnout election could help the union, a source said, because the labor group only needs to win a simple majority of the votes cast.
“It would be a shame if they had 5,000 people vote and they had 195,000 other people unionized because of it,” the source said.
