Key early steps involved the offices of both the governor and the lieutenant governor, belying suggestion that they were simply responding to the actions of other government officials
MIDLAND - Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who for more than a year has been nearly silent on her role in the forced unionization of more than 40,000 home day care providers, boasted of her involvement at a national union convention in 2008, Mackinac Center Communications Specialist Kathy Hoekstra reports in a video released today.
"In Michigan, because of the partnership between AFSCME and the governor's office, this means that 45,000 new AFSCME members, quality child care providers, will be on the ground providing care to children," the governor said in a speech at the 38th international convention of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "That is great for our state."
The Center's six-minute video reveals the behind-the-scenes steps taken by the offices of the governor and lieutenant governor to make it possible for these business owners and private contractors to be roped into a public-sector union. Michigan is the only state where home day care workers have been unionized without legislation or an executive order. Instead, the Michigan Department of Human Services and Mott Community College in Flint entered into an interlocal agreement to create a so-called employer for the day care providers.
The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation is suing the Michigan Department of Human Services to stop the agency's diversion of nearly $3 million in union "dues" from providers to union coffers. The money is being taken from subsidy checks that day care owners receive on behalf of low-income parents who need child care while they work or attend school.
"This footage forever ties this scheme to Gov. Granholm," said Patrick Wright, director of the MCLF. "This was not a bureaucratic happenstance. It was a deliberate and strategic choice."
The lawsuit has been appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court, which is considering whether to hear the case.
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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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