Unionizing NY Care Workers Means ‘We’re Paying Union Dues’ that Help ‘Political Patronage’

On Fox News Channel’s “Jesse Watters Primetime” Monday, CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said that unionizing personal care workers in New York “means that, now, we’re paying union dues, and that amounts to supporting political patronage that, unfortunately, in the case of New York, is supported by only one party.”

Oz said: [relevant remarks begin around 2:25] “[W]With Medicare and Medicaid, we have a handshake deal, especially when we start offering services designed to protect you, because your family isn’t doing them for you. I’ll give you a concrete example: In New York State, where you are right now, the number one job in the entire state is not retail, it’s not people working in stores, it’s personal care services. For what? Because it’s an employment program for the state. Nearly half a million people in this state are paid to carry groceries upstairs for their parents or their neighbor. Again, these are jobs that your family would do for you. This creates jobs in a state that is losing them. But it generates tax revenue, but it comes from the federal government, because we foot most of the bill.”

He continued: “And here’s what really bothers me: They’re starting to unionize these workers, which means now we’re paying union dues, and that’s supporting political patronage that, unfortunately, in the case of New York, is supported by only one party.

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