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Your Favorites: 2011

… Bloated Benefits.” “Michigan School Spending Hits All-Time High.” “Superintendent to Governor: ‘Make My School a Prison.’” “GOP Senator Tries to Save SEIU Health Care ‘Employer.’” “Plagiarism Double Standards at Michigan State.” “Bringing Balance to Public Benefits.”

The Importance of 'Sunshine Week'

In just the past few months, Michigan Capitol Confidential has broken a plethora of stories showing the need for government scrutiny. The SEIU has taken with the help of some Michigan government officials nearly $30 million in union dues from self-employed home health care aides and their disabled …

Unions in Perpetuity

… International Union. The rest, many completely unaware that a vote took place, are labeled “government employees” and forced into the union as a result. The SEIU then collects $29 million without having to engage in the collective bargaining that ostensibly is its reason for existence. And family members caring …

Making Sense of Michigan's Ballot Proposals

Chart explains supporters, opponents and what the six proposals mean for Michigan

… International Union more than $32 million since it was created under the administration of former Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Proposal 4 would allow the SEIU to continue taking money from the elderly and disabled in Michigan if voters approve the proposal. Prop 4 supporters say it would provide safe, in-home …

MICHIGAN CAPITOL CONFIDENTIAL

Fall 2012 Edition

… Already Exist Health Care Unionization Campaign Changes Its Story — Again Legal Foundation Seeks End to Forced Unionization of Home-Based Caregivers SEIU Dues Skim All About Politics Proposal 5: The 2/3 Tax Limitation Tax Limitation Amendment Will Greet Voters in November In the News Obama-Promoted …

State of the State: Union Protests Outside Capitol

… respond. She did not speak English. A demonstrator carrying a similar sign said he came to speak out against "union-busting." He thought his union, the SEIU, was worth his time and money even though he was making just over minimum wage. Watch the video below for coverage of the protests:

MICHIGAN CAPITOL CONFIDENTIAL

Spring 2013 Edition

… Legislators Who Supported Workplace Freedom and Liberty Republican Senators Against Right-to-Work Republican House Members Who Voted Against Right-to-Work SEIU ‘Skim Tracker’ Stops Ticking House Rep Wants To Force Homeschool Parents To Report Attendance To The State Consumers Are Best Arbiters of the Market …

MICHIGAN CAPITOL CONFIDENTIAL

Spring 2014 Edition

… with State Tax Dollars Message From the President: Defending Free Speech Vague Criminal Laws Threaten Individual Liberty and Burden the Justice System SEIU Fined Almost $200,000 Over Actions Tied To 2012 Ballot Proposal Campaign Lawsuit Filed Against MEA Over Dues Policies, ‘Fair Representation’ Hospital …

MICHIGAN CAPITOL CONFIDENTIAL

Fall 2013 Edition

… Where Their Money is Going’ MEA President Goes After Local Teachers’ Union President MSU English Professor Threatens Students in Anti-Republican Rant SEIU Under Investigation over Prop 4 ‘Dues Skim’ took $35 million from Medicaid recipients Loss of Funding Not To Blame For School District Failures State, …

MICHIGAN CAPITOL CONFIDENTIAL

Winter 2013 Edition

… Forward Court Ruling Supports State Law That Prohibits Discrimination of Non-Union Contractors New Bill Would Shed Light On Asset Forfeiture In Michigan SEIU Under Investigation Over Prop 4 Detroit Still Sending Tax Notices 15 Years After Company Closed U.S. Supreme Court Agrees To Look At Forced Unionization …

MICHIGAN CAPITOL CONFIDENTIAL

Summer 2014 Edition

In this issue: SEIU Membership Drops 80 Percent After Dues Skim Ends Michigan Families Helped Harris v. Quinn Succeed The 89,000 Clean Energy Jobs Myth How To Tell What a Bill Actually Does Michigan Loses 40K Grads; Corporate Welfare Program Paid $127K Each To Keep 125 Of Them Beverly Hills Cop Daycare …

Unionization for the 21st Century: What It Is and What It Is Not

… general counsel for the Service Employees International Union) and Catherine Fisk of the University of California-Irvine School of Law (and member of the SEIU Ethics Review Board) recently wrote in the Los Angeles Times: Requiring unions to offer free representation to workers who do not want a union in …

For the Record

… semester at the University of California – Berkeley. Under her leadership, Michigan led the nation in job loss with a decline of 576,900 positions. The SEIU is urging home caregivers in Michigan to join some fast food protesters in going on strike. The vast majority of these workers look after family or …

What Heroes Might You and I Meet in 2015?

… his principles, Adam told us. And how about Robert and Patricia Haynes, the Clinton Township couple who first exposed what came to be known as the SEIU “dues skim”? Their willingness to come forward back in 2012 helped us figure out the skim, which helped us submit arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court …

Michigan’s Largest Teachers Union Funds Leftist Activist Group

Michigan Education Association gave Progress Michigan $71,000 this year

… employee unions. They include Doug Pratt, the MEA’s public affairs director, Bob Allison, executive director of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Michigan State Council, and Georgi-Ann Bargamian, a regional director of the United Auto Workers. The UAW represents thousands of Michigan state government …

Michigan lawmakers have not tried to solve union ‘free rider’ problem

One in three bills in Michigan in 2023 has been labor-related. None try to solve a long-claimed problem. Why?

… employees. Why would lawmakers leave a glaring problem unaddressed? A 2018 memo on public policy priorities, co-authored by the AFSCME, AFT, NEA and SEIU labor unions, sheds light. The joint memo considers it counterproductive to solve the free-rider dilemma. In the eyes of the union, to leave free-riders …

Medicaid Payments Should Go to Caregivers, Not to Unions

U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging

… to unionize them. First, the SEIU lobbied the state to create … providers in Michigan. The SEIU then bargained with that “employer” … members — was redirected to the SEIU as dues. By 2012, the SEIU had successfully redirected … unionized. In less than a year, SEIU Health Care Michigan’s membership …

Interlocal Agreements — Good Intent, Bad Practice

… Employees International Union to organize against and create the 55,000-member SEIU Healthcare Michigan. The SEIU takes union dues from the Medicaid subsidies paid to home care workers (as …

The Best of the Best: CapCon's Top 10 Stories of 2014

Police seize property; religious discrimination in school contracts; Obamacare piles on disabled family’s burdens

… be forced to pay property tax on their business tools and equipment. 10. SEIU Membership Drops 80 Percent After Dues Skim Ends Once they were free to choose for themselves whether to pay dues money to the SEIU union, most home-based caregivers in Michigan quickly bailed. About 44,000 …

Creatures of the State

Government Employee Unions Gain, Private-Sector Unions Lose

… government union movement, however, is more ideological, its goals are primarily political, and it dismisses the value of economic growth. As one-time SEIU organizer and academic Paul Johnston puts it, government employee unions have become “the quintessential ‘state-making’ social movement, one that 'enacts' …

Union Lawyer Admits in Court that Stealth Unionization Is a 'Slippery Slope'

… Unionization Minority Rules: Most Members of Child Care Union Didn't Vote Themselves In Axed State Agency Mysteriously Operational GOP Senators, SEIU Taxpayer Giveaways, Campaign Cash and More, OH MY!

Questionable MSU Scholarship Hurts Policy Debate

… Then last October, MSU professor Charles Ballard did a little moonlighting, producing a study paid for by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), although one had to carefully read the fine print to recognize that it was not an official university product. Co-written with graduate student Nicole …

Free-Market Library

… Debt A different look at how bringing public-sector benefits into balance with the private sector could save Michigan $5.7 billion annually. The SEIU and Home Health Aides Home health aides, who often care for disabled family members, were forced into a union and now have part of their state subsidy …

NLRB 'Ignores' Rules To Rush Union Elections

… and Congress, it currently has only three members. They are: Craig Becker, associate general counsel of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Mark Gaston Pearce, NLRB chairman; and Brian Hayes, Republican labor policy director for the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. …

Which Ballot Proposals Are 'Grassroots'?

… “Citizens United for Affordable Quality Home Care” which is 100 percent funded by Home Care First Inc., which is suspected of being the front name for the SEIU. The union is the only group that would actually benefit from this amendment being passed. Because of the time and expertise it takes to make the …

Related Principles at Issue in the New Model

There is one other very important aspect of union law that is affected by what occurred here with the SEIU and MQC3, and by what Proposal 4 seeks to set in stone. This goes to the very heart of the purpose which has justified collective bargaining. Under collective bargaining, the representative union …

Arc Michigan Exec's Name-Calling Goes Against Group's Own Pledge

Dohn Hoyle, who also is Prop 4 spokesman, called parent caregiver Robert Haynes 'an idiot'

… unionization scheme, which was orchestrated by the Service Employees International Union when Jennifer Granholm was governor. They also oppose Proposal 4. The SEIU takes about $6 million a year from the Medicaid money of the elderly and disabled in Michigan as "union dues." The union has taken more than $32 million …

The Price Tag on the Ballot Proposals

Constitutional changes would cost billions to Michigan taxpayers, citizens

… in disposable personal income in 2025, when the proposal is fully implemented. Proposal 4. Voting “yes” on Proposal 4 would constitutionalize the SEIU dues skim, costing home-based caregivers $6 million annually. Proposal 5 and Proposal 6 have uncertain price tags. As Michael LaFaive explains in …

Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Gala

… Sacred Honor” award. The parents of two adult children with cerebral palsy, the Hayneses were the public face of the Center’s lengthy battle to end the SEIU’s “dues skim” and stealth unionization scheme that took $35 million away from Michigan’s Medicaid recipients. “I’m declaring that we’re not settling …

For State Employees, 2014 Means Finally Having the Freedom To Choose

Right-to-work now an option

… provide that these state workers can revoke payment or membership at any time. Last year, several unions including those affiliated with the UAW, SEIU, and AFCME sued the state claiming the new right-to-work law could not be applied to public sector employees in the state's civil service system. The …

Who needs a vacation anyway?

… partners at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation to make our voices louder. We know in Michigan that when folks weren’t forced to pay the SEIU, 80 percent dropped off the union’s membership rolls. (Patrick Wright sums up our involvement in our feature article.) Summer brings in a new class …

Unions Admit Forcing People to Pay Dues is Political

U.S. Supreme Court considers right-to-work for all

… Without those resources, the union movement was unable to mount a winning campaign for the Democratic candidate for president in Wisconsin. When the SEIU bankrolled a ballot proposal to continue the “dues skim” from home caregivers in Michigan, the president of the union said at the Democratic National …

Recent Corruption Scandals Involving Some of Michigan’s Largest Unions

Embezzlement, financial malpractice plague unions

… of Electrical Workers Local 876 was convicted of embezzling more than $300,000 from the union. She was sentenced to four years in federal prison. SEIU Healthcare Michigan was placed under an emergency trusteeship in 2017 by its parent organization after allegations of financial malpractice came to …

National Right-to-Work

The Union Opt-Out Effort in Michigan and Across the Country

… left their organizations in droves. The Michigan Education Association has lost one-third of its membership. The state AFSCME branch is down 37%. The SEIU has lost more than 50%. Each state government employee union is down at least 15% in membership. And this is at a time of sustained job growth. Many …

The Largest Public Sector Unions Have Lost Support Since Janus

At the two-year anniversary of the decision

… Education Association (NEA); and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). Specifically, active workers contributing to these unions fell by 2.9% for the SEIU, 3.9% for the NEA, 6.2% for AFT and 7.8% for AFSCME. And the drop in union membership is even larger in states that do not have their own right-to-work …

Labor Unions Are Not in a ‘Resurgence’

They’re at an all-time low in modern history

… of members. The Michigan Education Association is down 31%. Michigan Teamsters show a loss of 32%. The state AFSCME branch is down nearly 50%. And SEIU has lost almost two-thirds. A decline in manufacturing employment drives some of this loss. But over the past decade, several states began offering …

Antidote to coercion

… why union organizing falls by approximately 50% in states that adopt a right-to-work law.[35] [*] “HCF Inc. d/b/a Shawnee Manor and District 1199 SEIU, The Health Care and Social Service Union, AFL–CIO, Petitioner (Case 8–RC–15261),” (The National Labor Relations Board, Aug. 27, 1996), https://perma.cc/42RP-JF8X. …

Can Whitmer council find a way to grow Michigan?

What we know so far about the council and who will serve on it

… Conservation Voters And of course, union representatives: Steve Claywell, the president of the Michigan Building Trades Council Ray Sholtz, the president of SEIU Michigan According to the executive order: “The Council’s membership should reflect the socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, cultural, gender, occupational, …

Government Unions: The Real Wealth in American Politics

… spending this campaign season. One-hundred-percent of SEIU cash to federal candidates went to Democrats. (However, in Michigan's state government, the SEIU has also found some Republican friends). Rounding … Michigan politics. The total spending for AFSCME, SEIU and the NEA thus far this year has been $175.5 …

Harris v. Quinn

… Jennifer Granholm. The first to arrive was the SEIU, which sought the creation of a faux employer so … individuals. The home help unionization got the SEIU around $6 million a year, while the day care providers … seek a repayment of the dues money taken by the SEIU from home-based caregivers, an amount that exceeds …

Detailed Reporting of Receipts and Disbursements in the LM-2

… dollar debts in order to free up cash to spend. The SEIU, one of the nation’s largest unions, appears to … In 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported: An SEIU spokeswoman says the union works on a four-year … recent presidential election year, reveals that SEIU was the top spender among unions on political activities …

Endnotes

… Wright, “Haynes and Glossop v SEIU and MQC3, Brief in Support … (accessed Oct. 4, 2012). 25 SEIU Healthcare Michigan v Snyder, … (accessed Oct. 7, 2012). 49 SEIU Healthcare Michigan v Snyder, … 12-cv-12332 (ED Mich.) 50 SEIU Healthcare Michigan v Snyder, … (accessed Oct. 7, 2012). 92 “SEIU ensnared in political corruption …

A Look at Unions in Michigan, Five Years After Right-to-Work

Most of state’s largest unions have seen a collapse in members and political spending

… primarily by six different unions:  the MSEA, MCO, SEIU Local 517, Troopers Association, AFSCME Council … 2016 has plummeted from $844,766 to $319,766. SEIU Michigan is composed mostly of private sector health … the state are up 38,400 jobs (about 7 percent). SEIU Healthcare Michigan, which was composed almost …

Opt-in Requirement to Ensure Clear Consent

… home care providers in Minnesota reported that the SEIU forged their signatures for the purpose of authorizing … Substantial precedent supports these requirements: SEIU and AFSCME membership enrollment and political … University of California, https://perma.cc/2XX8-C2LU; SEIU Healthcare Florida Local 1991, https://perma.cc/WEY3-397G; …

Endnotes

… Priorities for Partner Unions” (AFSCME, AFT, NEA and SEIU), https://perma.cc/2D5M-NB7B. 24 Joseph G. Lehman, … Right-to-Work and the End of the 'Dues Skim' Killed the SEIU in Michigan” (Mackinac Center for Public Policy, … Jarrett Skorup, “Despite Collapse in Membership, SEIU Poised to Go All-In in Michigan” (Mackinac Center …

Endnotes

… Union of America v. Keating, 83 P.3d 835, 840 (Oklahoma 2003). 38  Ibid., 845-46 (Opala, J., concurring). 39  Cone v. Nevada Service Employees Union/SEIU Local 1107, 998 P.2d 1178 (Nevada 2000). 40  Ibid., 1180. 41  Ibid., 1182-83 (internal citations and footnote omitted). 42  Branch v. Myrtle Beach, …

Where Union Money Goes

… very differently. The Carpenters union generally avoided attempting to pass off payments to political organizations as representation expenses, while SEIU had a number of entries attributed to representation that were likely political in nature. The National Education Association also had a sizeable number …

Tea Party Group Moving from Protests to Election Action

… match their records. Last summer, CSG called a former GOP state representative to task for his voting record and association with unions such as the SEIU. The candidate at issue was Mike Nofs, R-Battle Creek. CSG distributed flyers with the information about Nofs during the GOP primary when he was running …

National Media and the Stealth Unionization Case

… Unionization Minority Rules: Most Members of Child Care Union Didn't Vote Themselves In Axed State Agency Mysteriously Operational GOP Senators, SEIU Taxpayer Giveaways, Campaign Cash and More, OH MY!    

I'm Just a Bill

… creating a shell government "employer" (the "Michigan Quality Community Care Council") that transfers some $6.6 million in Medicaid money annually to the SEIU union (considered the "union dues" for these workers). HOUSE BILL 5305 Increase marriage license and earmark more to "family counseling" Introduced …

State Senator Kicks Open Right-to-Work Door

… valuable as an economic tool than eliminating the unpopular Michigan Business Tax and its surcharge. Phillip Thompson, executive vice president of the SEIU Local 517 M which represents Michigan public employees, said they don’t support right-to-work. "We are opposed to any of this type of legislation …

Commentary: How Unions Run Government … And Democrats

… . . One source tells MIRS that unions involved include the Michigan Education Association (MEA), United Autoworkers (UAW), AFL-CIO, Carpenters and SEIU. The Laborers and AFSCME were not involved. “It would also entail more coordination from groups sympathetic to Democrats, like the Michigan Association …

Some Tea Partiers Gunning For Republican Senate Majority Leader

Sen. Richardville out of sync on 'right-to-work' and 'forced unionization'?

… under his leadership the body has failed to vote on a House-passed bill to stop the transfer of $28 million from home health care providers to the SEIU  (see CapCon “skimTRACKER”). In 2009, Sen. Richardville co-sponsored a bill that would have given explicit statutory authorization to this practice. …

March 23, 2012, MichiganVotes.org Weekly Roll Call

… ended by the Snyder administration subsequent to a Mackinac Center legal challenge, and the bill would (eventually) end a still-ongoing one extracting SEIU union dues from home health care providers who are mostly relatives of disabled individuals.  Who Voted "Yes" and Who Voted "No" Senate Bill 821, …

You Had to Figure This Would Happen...

MEA lawyers blocking labor law reforms

… there is a legal challenge to legislation that would end the legally questionable unionization of graduate students at the University of Michigan, the SEIU is preparing a ballot initiative to reinstate their medicare dues skim, there will be a ballot proposal that will take away the authority of emergency …

How CapCon Uses Transparency Laws to Hold Government Accountable

… Confidential, this law is vital to performing our mission. In just the last year, CapCon has used FOIA requests to break the following stories and more: The SEIU “dues skim,” which has taken more than $30 million from home health care workers, many of them taking care of their own relatives. The multi-million …

2012 Off to a Great Start — Six Significant Legislative Reforms

… when the Mackinac Center exposed a scam in which money from thousands of disabled individuals who get home health assistance was redistributed to the SEIU government employee union as phony “union dues.” Although delayed, the Legislature finally passed a bill banning this, and the looting ended in May …

School District's Costly Decisions Protect Union Interests

Fruitport school union, board of education, cut deal that pushes more than $240K back on taxpayers

… board member Benjamin Gillette unsuccessfully ran for state representative in the 91st district in 2010 and had a laundry list of union support. The SEIU, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and several other unions were among his top campaign donors. Gillette has also been …

Executive Summary*

… Quality Community Care Council. This process has led to more than $32 million in Medicaid money intended for in-home caregivers being diverted to the SEIU for “collective bargaining” with an obscure government entity that had no ability to give the caregivers a raise or improve their working conditions. …

Introduction: The Provisions of Proposal 4

… designees to serve in their stead.[14] As noted, the amendment would require the continued observance of any MQC3 collective bargaining agreement with the SEIU,[15] along with the dues-paying requirement to that union. However, for the first time, the Michigan Constitution would mandate that the in-home caregivers …

President’s Message: Will the Union Power-Play Backfire?

… fiscally distressed schools and municipalities. Unions want a “no” vote on 1. Prop 4 is a direct response to the Mackinac Center’s exposure of the SEIU’s indefensible skimming of $32 million (and counting) from home-based caregivers of Medicaid recipients. Prop 4 carves their scheme into the constitution …

Right-to-Work Law Gives Workers Reason to Celebrate on Labor Day

Fast food protests highlight tired tactics of the past

… (apologies to McDonald’s) occurring in Detroit, Flint and select cities across the nation. Fast food workers were told by "community organizers" cloaked in SEIU purple that they're not being paid enough and that they are being treated unfairly. In a series of camera ready events, protesters briefly took to …

Democrat Mark Schauer Receiving the Big Donations in Gubernatorial Race

But despite appearances, political race contributions reflect typical pattern

Though Michigan’s gubernatorial candidates differ on issues like right-to-work, the SEIU dues skim and government regulations, the apparent contrast between their campaign finance reports could come as a surprise to many. Lists of campaign contributions to former Congressman Mark Schauer, the Democratic …

Court of Claims Tosses MEA's Right-to-Work Lawsuit

State Capitol was closed when union protesters pushed past guards, impeded medical workers

… conscience on the job." ~~~~~ See also: VIDEOS: Union Right-to-Work Protest Goes Violent Most of the Arrested Anti Right-to-Work Protesters Have SEIU 'Dues Skim' Connections 'We'll Be at Your Daughter's Soccer Game'

Unions are Super PACS

Former Democratic Party Chairman admits double-standard

… according to a POLITICO analysis of data from the Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service. Bob Allison, the executive director of the SEIU Michigan State Council, did not respond to an email offering him the opportunity to comment. Doug Pratt, the director of public affairs for the Michigan …

Michigan Pushes Back Against Feds on Labor Regulations

NLRB ruling could end franchising 'as we know it'

… “Their latest gambit would undo decades of precedent in the franchise industry and do irreparable harm to one of the bedrocks of small business.” The SEIU national office didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.

The Legislative Clock is Ticking

It's time for free-market reformers to act

… tied revenue sharing to best practices, banned monopolistic union hiring practices, enacted significant collective bargaining reforms and banned the SEIU’s “dues skim” of day care providers. The Legislature kept up a good pace of reform in 2012, cutting the personal property tax on tools and equipment, …

The Legislative Clock is Ticking

It’s time for free-market reformers to act

… tied revenue sharing to best practices, banned monopolistic union hiring practices, enacted significant collective bargaining reforms and banned the SEIU’s “dues skim” of day care providers. The Legislature kept up a good pace of reform in 2012, cutting the personal property tax on tools and equipment, …

Detroit Council Calls For $15 Minimum Wage; Many City Workers Get Less

Statement ‘strongly encourages downtown developers’ to pay a living wage

… pay at least $15 an hour, the city government is still posting jobs paying less than that. The union behind the local minimum wage campaign is the SEIU, which a week earlier organized a rally that was attended by Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones. The resolution reads in part, “The Detroit …

Right-To-Work Repeal Bill Denies Government Workers’ Civil Rights

Michigan Dem’s legislation appears to defy US Supreme Court’s 2018 Janus ruling

… of Michigan's government unions have seen double-digit declines in fee-paying employees. For example, the Michigan State Employees Association and SEIU Local 517M saw 20 percent drops. Among other things, declining revenue affects the union’s ability to engage in political activism. Economist James …

Background

… enrollment resulting from Supreme Court rulings, labor unions began an aggressive campaign to enroll more dues-paying members. In some cases, unions like SEIU have reportedly resorted to forging signatures on membership forms.[5] The amount of union deductions skimmed by state governments from family child …

Michigan’s Laboratory for Liberty

Letter from the executive vice president

… supporters. We discovered this problem in Michigan in 2009. Our creative team gave it a name — “dues skim” — that is now universally used. We killed the SEIU skim in Michigan in 2013 and contributed to litigation that led to a favorable U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Still, the practice continued in nearly a …

Problems with Decertification

… employee of Kaiser Permanente Northwest, told the House Education and the Workforce Committee that in July 2011 her workplace was organized by the SEIU via card check in less than two weeks. She said that she was never presented with a card.[71] Ivey and her colleagues then collected signatures for …

Giving Missouri’s Workers A Choice

Missouri House of Representatives Economic Development Committee

… evidence. And a long line of Supreme Court cases makes clear that the waiver of a constitutional right does not continue in perpetuity. In Knox v. SEIU, the court affirmed that the factors influencing a party’s decision to support a union may change over time, and that a fresh opportunity to affirm …

A National Leader

Mackinac Center’s Michael Reitz wins Overton award

… right-to-work state, secured historic pension reform, expanded educational options for students, eliminated wasteful corporate subsidies, killed the abhorrent SEIU dues skim in Michigan and ended Gov. Whitmer’s attempt to govern by emergency indefinitely. Working with these fine people — it’s the best job I ever …

Why We Need ‘Impact Journalism’

… journalism” when there’s a causal relationship between one or more news stories and a move in policy in our preferred direction. Examples include ending the SEIU dues skim against vulnerable people, changing a legacy media false narrative regarding then-Gov. Rick Snyder’s education budgets, ending corporate …

Victory for Mark Janus

How the Mackinac Center's years advancing worker freedom in Michigan have paid off across the country

… Capitol. A couple of months later, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Knox v. SEIU, and the majority opinion in that case — decided in June 2012 — included … Michigan and make collective bargaining agreements trump state law. The SEIU, whose efforts to take money from home health aides in a dues-skim operation …

Endnotes

… 228 NLRB 1311, 1313 (1977). 37 1621 Route 22 W. Operating Co. LLC v. 1199 SEIU, No. 12-1031 (3rd Cir., March 14, 2018). 38 Shirlington Supermarket, Inc., … 5–6, https://perma.cc/EH6M-GFVR. 41 Ibid., 5. 42 Ibid. 43 Ibid., 6. 44 “SEIU Union Must Abandon ‘Card Check’ Union Organizing Drives in Pacific Northwest …

The Consequences for Local Politics

… organizations that represent private-sector employees. The effect of the federal law is that the Michigan and federal bodies of the NEA/MEA, AFSCME and SEIU, all of which represent some private-sector employees, are required to file LM-2 forms, but the vast majority of their locals are not, because those …

Union PAC Money and Michigan's Members of Congress

… ~~~~~ See Also: Strings May Be Attached When a Politician Has the Union Label Why a Democrat Voted Against a State Employee Pay Hike GOP Senators, SEIU Taxpayer Giveaways, Campaign Cash and More, OH MY! Recent Developments in Union Corruption Cases Analysis: Government Employee Political Clout Obstructs …

MichiganVotes.org July 2 Weekly Roll Call Report

… creating a shell government "employer" (the "Michigan Quality Community Care Council") that transfers some $6.6 million in Medicaid money annually to the SEIU union (considered the "union dues" for these workers). Note: A lawsuit filed by the Mackinac Center is pending regarding a similar arrangement imposed …

Can Michigan Become a Right-to-Work State?

… Mississippi Example Strings May Be Attached When a Politician Has the Union Label Why a Democrat Voted Against a State Employee Pay Hike GOP Senators, SEIU Taxpayer Giveaways, Campaign Cash and More, OH MY! Recent Developments in Union Corruption Cases Analysis: Government Employee Political Clout Obstructs …

The Conservative Evolution of Randy Richardville

The future majority leader of the Michigan Senate wants his critics to know that he is no liberal

… supported union legislation. As a recent example, he co-sponsored Senate Bill 731, legislation that would transfer $6.6 million in taxpayer money to the SEIU government employee union. It did it by creating a government "employer" for about 42,000 individuals who are hired by elderly or disabled Medicaid …

Community College Never Heard From Erstwhile 'Partner' in Forced Unionization Scheme

… Unionization Minority Rules: Most Members of Child Care Union Didn't Vote Themselves In Axed State Agency Mysteriously Operational GOP Senators, SEIU Taxpayer Giveaways, Campaign Cash and More, OH MY!

‘My House Was Placed in a Union!’

Legislation to halt ‘stealth unionization’ takes a step toward the governor’s desk

… Unionization Minority Rules: Most Members of Child Care Union Didn't Vote Themselves In Axed State Agency Mysteriously Operational GOP Senators, SEIU Taxpayer Giveaways, Campaign Cash and More, OH MY!

MCQ3 Response To 'Forced Unionization'

(Editor's note: Michigan Capitol Confidential reported about the 'dues skim' from Michigan home health care providers to the SEIU via the Michigan Quality Community Care Council. The following is a response from MCQ3 Chairman Scott Heinzman.) Capitol Confidential asked the MQC3 the following questions: …

Commentary: Mixed Messages on Prison Spending

… be just the latest in a long string of prison union wins. For example, in 2002, gubernatorial candidate Jennifer Granholm publically promised the SEIU-affiliated prison guards union she would shut down Michigan’s first and only experiment in privatized prisons, a so-called “punk prison” located in …

Lehman Debates Union Power Grab

… for government. One union came into Sherry Loar’s private home day care, called her a government worker, and started taking dues from her. And the SEIU is still skimming $30 million and counting from parents like Rob and Pat Haynes, who care for their disabled children at home with Medicaid assistance. …

President Joseph G. Lehman Debates 'Protect Our Jobs' Ballot Proposal at the Mackinac Policy Conference

UAW President a Debate No-Show

… for government. One union came into Sherry Loar’s private home day care, called her a government worker, and started taking dues from her. And the SEIU is still skimming $30 million and counting from parents like Rob and Pat Haynes, who care for their disabled children at home with Medicaid assistance. …

‘Protect Our Jobs’ Would Protect the 3 Percent at the Expense of the 97 Percent

… dues from them. Some $4 million was taken before the scheme ended after an 18-month court battle led by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation. And the SEIU is still skimming $30 million and counting from people, including parents, who care for their disabled children at home with Medicaid assistance. …

Unions, Government Entities Team Up to Keep Information From Citizens

… grant money. Transparency laws are important. In just the few years we have used FOIA requests to break dozens of major news stories. Exposing the SEIU “dues skim,” where the union teamed up with the administration of former Gov. Jennifer Granholm to take more than $32 million from home-based caregivers …

Election RECAP

Mackinac Center analysts’ personal takeaways on ballot proposals

… amendments. Proposal 4, equally damaging in its own right, would have permitted the continued stealth unionization of home-based caregivers by the SEIU. The majority of these workers are friends or family members of their patients, and certainly not government employees. Prop 4’s defeat keeps about …

UAW President Bob King Admits Proposal 2 Was About Right-to-Work

… attempt to unionize graduate student research assistants at the University of Michigan and home-based caregivers who were forced into a union by the SEIU. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy filed lawsuits relating to those two instances. Nearly a year ago, when King announced the proposal, he described …

Study: They Spend Millions, but Minimal Transparency Required for Government Union Finances

… union of Steffke’s local, the AFT, is one of the top 10 labor organizations in political spending nationally, with a tally of $21,457,153 in 2012. (The SEIU tops the list, spending nearly $113,820,009 that year on political activity and lobbying.) Steffke would also like to know how much local member dues …

Worker Freedom Won Tuesday

… initiative pushed by unions to keep groups like the Freedom Foundation from contacting home health care workers to inform them of their rights to leave the SEIU. The measure succeeded  by a vote of 72 percent to 28 percent, which will mean that it will be harder for home health care workers to learn about their …

30 Years for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy

Our research helped usher in significant reforms

… policy research, we’ve also successfully litigated to protect Michigan families against government overreach. The most notable of these examples is the SEIU’s “dues skim,” which allowed this government union to literally steal money from some of our most needy residents. We exposed this racket and eventually …

Teachers Union Could Face Millions In Clawback Payments To Workers

Federal class-action lawsuit contends compulsory fee payments violated government workers' free speech

… across the country to stop withholding union fees from the paychecks of people who had opted out of dues payments, if they had been doing so.  The SEIU settled the lawsuit for $2,200 with an Oregon woman who had claimed the union had violated her constitutional rights by taking money from her even …

A Steady Decline for Unions Under Michigan’s Right-to-Work Law

The birthplace of the modern labor movement finds workers increasingly opting out

… placed under the control of outside trustees. And the end of a dues scheme by which tens of thousands of home caregivers were forcibly unionized by the SEIU Healthcare has meant an astounding 84 percent membership loss. In June 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that all public sector …

Public Employees Should be Allowed to Exercise Their Rights

Some states still force workers to fight for their freedom

… The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) reported an 8 percent drop, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), a 5.2 percent decline. These three unions, the largest public-sector unions in the nation, have witnessed a decline of some 279,000 workers. Conservatively …

10 Years of Victories: The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation Celebrates … and Looks Forward

… Union was skimming dues from the governmental aid the Haynes received for watching over their own children instead of institutionalizing them. The SEIU unionized over 45,000 home-help providers. A Mackinac Center Legal Foundation lawsuit on behalf of the Pat Haynes, and Steve Glossop, who was providing …