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The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is honored to be one of five organizations given the 2019 Network Award by State Policy Network for its work on ending the dues skim. Other recipients include the Center of the American Experiment, Freedom Foundation, Illinois Policy Institute and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
The Mackinac Center first coined the term “dues skim” after the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation discovered that the Service Employees International Union was automatically deducting union dues from home-based caregivers’ Medicaid payments. The SEIU had unionized thousands of home health care workers, unbeknownst to them, and siphoned tens of millions of dollars into its coffers. The Mackinac Center successfully ended the practice of dues skimming in Michigan, but the fight wasn’t over. Unions found a loophole and began skimming dues in other states. In May, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ruled that unions cannot automatically deduct union dues from home health care workers, a move that closed the loophole. The Mackinac Center is proud to have played a part in this achievement, which will protect the rights of hundreds of thousands of people across the country.
