Michigan Senate Republicans Allow SEIU To Bully Home Caregivers

Michigan Republicans are backing the SEIU’s bilking of parents of disabled children. And they’re getting paid to do it.

Here’s the whole story: In Michigan, many disabled people receive public subsidies, which they can then use to hire caretakers. Very often, those disabled people are cared for by their parents, who use the subsidies to ensure proper care for their children.

Thanks to former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (D), back in 2005, the SEIU was able to rope these caretakers into a union in an unpublicized election in which 80 percent of the caretakers didn’t vote. But, you say, these people weren’t government employees. Why would they need a union? The answer is simple: they don’t. The SEIU simply wanted to unionize these folks to allow them to extract forced dues. Those dues are skimmed off of Medicaid payments, and handed over to the union. The result: $29 million poured into the SEIU’s coffers since 2007.

What do these caretakers get in return for being unionized? Virtually nothing.  Instead, as the following video shows, caretakers just get paid less:

The exclusive video from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy tells the story of Robert and Patricia Haynes, a couple who care for their severely disabled adult kids. As you’ll see, the SEIU’s unionization scheme has had serious effects on their ability to take care of those children.

In 2011, the Michigan House voted to stop this scam by stating that receiving government subsidies didn’t make one eligible for a union. That measure has now stalled in the Michigan Senate, thanks to Michigan Republicans. Why don’t they stop the SEIU? Maybe it’s because Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Sen. Roger Khan (R-Saginaw) took $5,000 from the SEIU … on the same day the House bill made its way to the Senate.

Michigan isn’t the only state with a problem. Illinois has a similar regime. Connecticut is considering one. This is a brilliant union scam, designed to redistribute taxpayer dollars into the pockets of the unions – and to burn newly-found union members in the process. It must stop now, and it must start with the Michigan Senate Republicans.