Posts tagged dues skim
Caregivers pay SEIU dues for no real union benefits
January 15, 2026 // The caregivers’ union doesn’t have the power to bargain with the Department of Health and Human Services over wages or working conditions. Stipends for home caregivers are decided legislatively. In sum, the SEIU can collect dues, but it can’t negotiate better pay and working conditions — the very reason unions typically exist. At best, it can “advocate” for higher wages, something that is more akin to lobbying than bargaining. So, what’s the point of this union? The only real answer is that this is just another partisan power grab to fill the coffers of its preferred political party.
MICHIGAN: SEIU gains power over 32,000 workers with 4,200 votes
October 30, 2025 // This is the second time in recent decades that the SEIU has installed its dues skim, which takes money from people who receive state stipends to care for someone else, usually a family member. It did so after receiving a majority vote from a tiny fraction of those it purports to represent before state officials. There are 32,000 home health care providers in the Michigan. Only 5,527 valid ballots were cast on the matter of unionization, with 4,205 votes in favor. Another 1,502 providers voted against the effort, according to the Michigan Employment Relations Commission.
Caregivers sue state over ‘false’ public employee classification
October 20, 2025 // The practice drew widespread condemnation when the Mackinac Center brought it to light early in the previous decade. But the SEIU refused to accept defeat after the Legislature ended the practice. The union struck back with a 2012 ballot initiative that failed by a 56% to 44% vote. Following that failure, SEIU used various means to keep alive the idea that home care workers are employees of the government. The union got its second chance last year, when the Democratic trifecta under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer quietly enacted laws classifying home care workers as public employees and opening caregivers’ personal records to the union. As happened in 2005, the SEIU got its win, but with a very small vote.
We’re Suing to Stop Unions from Stealing from Home Caregivers
August 4, 2025 // This isn’t the first time that Michigan caregivers have been targeted by unions seeking to skim dues off their stipends. Democrats put in place the same unjust policy in 2005, and the Service Employees International Union went on to take an estimated $34 million from home caregivers in just six years, before Republicans repealed it. But this time, caregivers like Tammy hopefully won’t have to wait for a change in power. The courts can protect them.
Home health care provider urges caution over SEIU petition
June 6, 2025 // Gloria Henry, the mother of a special needs child has a message for home health care providers now that a Service Employees International Union member showed up at her house. Anyone who is visited by an SEIU representative should be wary of what they are signing, Henry told Michigan Capitol Confidential. The union is collecting signatures to organize caregivers who care for their loved ones at home. The Legislature approved a law in fall 2024 that categorized home caretakers as government employees
Caregivers protest union effort to skim home helpers’ pay
April 30, 2025 // The SEIU quietly swept 60,000 home-based caregivers into its ranks in 2005, assisted by a mechanism established under Gov. Jennifer Granholm. Caregivers who did not consent to withdrawals saw the union take money from their paychecks in a practice the Mackinac Center for Public Policy dubbed a dues skim. Home caregivers enjoyed protection from the dues skim for 11 years after the state ended the practice. Last fall, lawmakers reestablished the legal mechanism by which the union could enroll caregivers as members and collect dues. It's not as easy for unions to take that money, however, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2016 Janus v. AFSCME ruling, which protects public sector employees from being required to join a union as a condition of employment.
MICHIGAN: Unions licensed to deceive (editorial)
December 28, 2024 // With the enactment of Senate bills 790 and 791 in October, Michigan homecare providers are classified as public employees. Those are individuals — many of whom care for elderly or disabled family members — who receive a stipend from government programs for their work and sacrifice. The state law sets up homecare workers to be pressured into union membership and made to pay dues to the Service Employees International Union. Those caregivers get no benefit from union membership, because the amount of the stipend is decided legislatively and is not subject to collective bargaining. Providers need every cent available to them as they minister care.
Return of union dues skim threatens home health workers
May 8, 2024 // With dues skim finally put to rest, home healthcare workers’ true feelings were made clear. In under a year, SEIU lost tens of thousands of members, shrinking from 55,265 to 10,918. By 2022, membership had fallen to 5,031, less than 10% of its membership at the height of dues skim. When given a choice, home healthcare providers fled the union in droves. Despite this, the Michigan Senate has since introduced SB 790-791, which would allow for the untimely return of the dues skim.
Michigan Senate bills would revive dues skim for home health workers
March 19, 2024 // Senate Bill 790, which was submitted Thursday by Sen. Kevin Hertel, D-St. Clair Shores. Officially, the 15-page bill says it would create the Home Health Caregiver Council, a seven-member board that would oversee issues involving those workers. The council would set compensation rates and issue checks for home health workers. It would also be authorized to deduct union fees. Under the previous iteration of dues skim, the Service Employees International Union pulled in about $34 million between November 2006 and February 2013.
Tennessee House Reinstates Critical Paycheck Protection Measure Previously Stripped from House Bill 329, Protecting Teachers’ Hard-Earned Money
April 19, 2023 // The Tennessee Education Association has bylaws that permit them to apply an “assessment” on teachers’ dues for salary increases granted by the state, effectively skimming teachers’ paychecks when they get raises above the cost of living. Because Tennessee has deducted union dues from teachers’ paychecks automatically, unions could in some cases access teachers’ pay increases before they do. Additionally, state resources are used to collect dues, not all of which stay in the Volunteer State or are fully reinvested in teachers and classrooms. Instead, portions of these dues are exported out of state to the National Education Association, which can use these dollars for purposes that can be at odds with Tennessee teachers’ values. We agree with the Tennessee legislature and Governor Lee in believing that this is fundamentally wrong. Not only should the state of Tennessee no longer act as the bills collector for a union to export dues for political purposes outside of the state, but Tennessee should also ensure that teachers have the opportunity to access their hard-earned salary increases first.