State Rep. Dave Agema, R-Grandville, has submitted a resolution asking that the Michigan Supreme Court hear a case involving home-based day care workers who say they didn't realize they were unionized by the state.
The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation appealed the case to the Michigan Supreme Court. The public-interest law firm filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Human Services on behalf of home-based day care providers. In December of 2009, the Michigan Court of Appeals dismissed the case without explanation.
"We are not giving up on this," Agema said. "You got people paying union dues who don't want to be part of a union."
The case involves at least 40,000 home-based business owners and millions of dollars that were affected by the union effort to designate the providers as government employees for unionization and dues-collecting purposes.
Agema said he is also working on getting an amicus brief filed with the case from the Michigan House of Representatives' Republican Caucus. An amicus brief is filed by a party not directly related to the case, but shows their support.
Patrick Wright, senior legal analyst for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, said the resolution and amicus brief could help the efforts to get the state Supreme Court to hear the case. Wright said part of the criteria the high court uses is gauging the public interest in the case.
"It would be welcomed to have that done," Wright said. "The more perspectives we have saying, 'There was something wrong here,' the better."
Agema served on the House appropriations subcommittee that questioned the Department of Human Services about how the Michigan Home Based Child Care Council — a state agency — had its funding axed from the state budget but continued to operate.
At the time, DHS officials told Agema they couldn't answer that question because of the lawsuit. Later, a Michigan Home Based Child Care Council official said it gets its money from other funds in the Department of Human Services.
Kathy Hoekstra, a communications specialist with the Mackinac Center, set out to find who the employer was for the home-based day care workers that were being unionized but could find no individual or organization willing to claim them.
Tight security locked out dozens of anti-right-to-work protesters from the State Capitol as Governor Snyder was delivering his "State of the State" address. Protesters tried to disrupt the speech by banging and chanting outside the building.
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FROM MICHIGAN HOME HELP PROGRAM PROVIDERS — OFTEN FAMILY MEMBERS
ATTORNEY GENERAL ORDERED THE STATE TO STOP TAKING MONEY ON MAY 25, 2012
opinion May 25, 2012
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) "organized” Michigan's self-employed Home Help Program providers for the purpose of skimming dues from their ailing and disabled clients' Medicaid subsidy checks. The majority of these providers are relatives or friends taking care of loved ones. It’s been estimated that less than 25 percent of the providers are hired in an employment setting.
The first counter tallies SEIU dues skimmed since the union and state officials first launched this scheme in late 2006. The second shows the amount skimmed since June 9, 2011, when the Michigan House passed and sent to the Senate a bill to ban this and all similar “stealth unionization” efforts. The third counter shows the dues skimmed since the Governor signed the bill into law on April 10, 2012. The fourth counter shows the amount skimmed since May 25, 2012, when the Attorney General opinion was announced.
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