In-home health care workers in Connecticut, like their counterparts in Michigan, may see so-called union dues deducted from paychecks they receive through a state subsidy for the poor, but two free market groups are trying to stop it.

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is trying to unionize in-home health care workers, based on the theory that they qualify as public employees because the money paid to them is subsidized by the state. “The only notice home health care workers receive concerning a union election is a nondescript mailing asking them if they wish to join the union,” says the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI). “Under this process, the union only needs to receive a majority of returned cards—not a majority of all workers—to be recognized as those workers’ exclusive bargaining representative.”