State Legislators Concerned Over Forced Unionization of Private Business Owners

The forced unionization of home-based day care providers is finally drawing the attention of state legislators.

"It created another layer of bureaucracy that seems to leave the providers themselves without the benefits they deserve for the services they provided," Rep. John Proos, R- St. Joseph, told the Livingston Daily Press & Argus.

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation in September filed suit against the Michigan Department of Human Services over an agreement between DHS and Mott Community College that funnels nearly $4 million a year to Child Care Providers Together Michigan. Rep. Bill Rogers, R-Genoa Township, called the agreement a "shell game," according to the Livingston Daily.

Paulette Silverson of Brighton, one of the MCLF's clients and a constituent of Rogers', told the Livingston Daily she considers herself self-employed.

"How can I be a union member?" the paper quotes her. "I'm not employed by anyone."

Silverson and thousands of other day care owners statewide receive subsidy checks from DHS on behalf of low-income parents who require day care while they work or attend school. Dues are subtracted from those checks and sent to CCPTM, a union formed by the UAW and AFSCME.

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