This article originally appeared in The Detroit News April  11, 2024. 

It’s been 15 years since the Mackinac Center uncovered a scheme to enrich unions on the backs of people caring for their loved ones. The original program, which took more than $34 million in dues from the pockets of home healthcare providers, was dismantled in 2013. But now the Michigan Legislature has introduced bills to revive this unpopular and unjust program.

It works by creating a fictitious employment relationship between home healthcare providers and the state, and then unionizing the newly created public “employees.” In reality, the vast majority of home healthcare workers are people who care for elderly or disabled family members, and the caregivers receive a federal stipend for doing so. Their employer is technically the person they care for. But dues skim laws make these caregivers employees of the state so that the Service Employees International Union can tap into the federal grants.

In the early 2000s, Michigan classified these individuals as employees of the Michigan Quality Community Care Council. This allowed the SEIU to attempt to unionize them. The union succeeded, even though fewer than 20% of home health workers voted in favor of unionization. Many home healthcare providers weren’t even aware an election was held. Despite this, the SEIU was selected to act as home healthcare providers’ bargaining agent against the state.

In theory, a union is supposed to bargain on behalf of employees in order to secure better terms and conditions of employment. But in this case the union can’t really do so — funding for home healthcare workers is set at the federal level and the disbursement of these funds has to be approved by the Michigan Legislature. The end result is a pretty good deal for unions, which can simply collect a portion of the home healthcare provider’s federal stipend for doing basic lobbying. But it’s a raw deal for providers, who must give the same level of care to their loved ones with even less money.

Dues skim was highly profitable for the SEIU. From home healthcare workers alone, the union skimmed approximately $6 million a year. Adding in other home-based workers brought the annual total to $9 million.

When the Mackinac Center uncovered the scheme, it was soundly rejected. When made aware of the issue, the Legislature defunded the Care Council in 2011. The SEIU, refusing to concede, funded the council to ensure its continued existence. Dues kept flowing for another two years, allowing the union to collect an additional $12 million. Motivated to keep the dues skim going, unions put the issue on the ballot as Proposition 4 of 2012. During the campaign, organized labor outspent opposition by a factor of more than four to one, putting almost $16.5 million into the effort. The people of Michigan roundly rejected Prop 4 anyway, with a final vote of 57-43%.

Despite this, the Michigan Senate has since introduced SB 790-791, which would allow for the untimely return of the dues skim. The Michigan Legislature should seriously consider whether taking money out of the pockets of those who care for their elderly and disabled relatives is a good idea. This would benefit unions and their political allies, but dues skim offers little in the way of public benefit while hurting some of the most vulnerable.

Home healthcare workers, not unions, are best at deciding how to spend the money earmarked for their loved ones’ care. The prime beneficiaries of this scheme are union officials and politicians. It doesn’t provide benefits to either caregivers or care recipients; it just allows unions to tap into federal funding. Michiganians were right to kill the dues skim the first time.

It should stay dead.

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are properly cited.