SEIU Pushes Proposal in Michigan Leaving Caregivers Questioning Reasoning

Michigan's ballot on Tuesday will include Proposal 4, requiring an amendment to the state's constitution that would require home health workers to pay union dues to the SEIU (Service Employees International Union which serves as a union to government workers). It turns out Michigan had just excluded these home health workers by a vote of the state legislature this year and now the SEIU wants them back.

The SEIU in Washington state also passed a law recently, which, very much like this one, just required current professional caregiving items that were already in place such as caregiver training and background checks, to be required, along with union dues. Meanwhile, Washington state's senior care companies already conducted criminal background checks and now many caregivers are excluded as potential caregiving job candidates because 75 hours of training are required.

What seems to be missing in the Michigan initiative, again, is an added benefit for the seniors and caregivers.

With around 42,000 home health workers in Michigan, this will be significant revenue for the union.  The union says this new law will add background check requirements and a healthcare worker registry.  However, caregivers are already required to pass background checks.  What is the real motive behind the SEIU wanting Michigan's Proposal 4 passed? Critics are saying the union wants to keep these workers and keep their dues and is lacking in proposing anything innovative.  Below are the facts and we'll let you decide.

Michigan caregivers and seniors should be sure to understand how Proposal 4 will impact them.

What is Proposal 4?

The Michigan Home Health Care Amendment is on the November 6, 2012, statewide ballot in Michigan as an initiated constitutional amendment.  The initiative would place features of the Michigan Quality Community Care Council in the state constitution, in addition to providing home health care providers with limited collective bargaining. The petition was sponsored by Citizens for Affordable Quality Home Care

Propsal 4 Text for Michigan Ballot:

PROPOSAL 12-4
A PROPOSAL TO AMEND THE STATE CONSTITUTION TO ESTABLISH THE MICHIGAN QUALITY HOME CARE COUNCIL AND PROVIDE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING FOR IN-HOME CARE WORKERS

This proposal would:

• Allow in-home care workers to bargain collectively with the Michigan Quality Home Care Council (MQHCC). Continue the current exclusive representative of in-home care workers until modified in accordance with labor laws.

• Require MQHCC to provide training for in-home care workers, create a registry of workers who pass background checks, and provide financial services to patients to manage the cost of in-home care.

• Preserve patients’ rights to hire in-home care workers who are not referred from the MQHCC registry who are bargaining unit members.

• Authorize the MQHCC to set minimum compensation standards and terms and conditions of employment.

Should this proposal be approved?

YES __
NO ____

What doe the Michigan Governor think of Proposal 4?

Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has said the proposal as well the four others that change the Michigan Constitution are bad policy.

What does the Detroit News think of Proposal 4?

Tuesday's ballot initiative would amend the state constitution to allow some 42,000 home health workers to unionize, giving them limited collective bargaining rights and listing them in a statewide registry. The proposal would re-establish the Michigan Quality Home Care Council in the executive branch of state government. The council would be the so-called public employer of home health aides.

The independent, nonpartisan Citizens Research Council said the primary question for voters as it relates to Proposal 4 is whether such remedies should be enshrined in the state constitution or through a referendum on the state law, such as the one on the ballot pertaining to state-appointed emergency managers running struggling cities and schools.

The signature union-backed initiative is Proposal 2, which also would amend the constitution to guarantee the right to organize for the purpose of collective bargaining with public and private employers.

Supporters fear Michigan's GOP lawmakers eventually will make a push for right-to-work legislation, which bars unions from collecting mandatory dues from workers, while opponents contend the measure would make union leaders more powerful than elected officials and impose rollbacks of state and local governments' ability to set employment terms and get budgets under control.

How much money has the SEIU's special interest groups spent to push Proposal 4?

$10 million+

What is the history of the SEIU assisting caregivers in Michigan?

Michigan's Home Help program. funded by Medicaid allows caregivers to care for family members at home. Proposal 4 targets these caregivers and would require them to pay union dues:

• In 2005, and under questionable pretenses, the SEIU  became the recognized collective bargaining agent for 60,000+ caregivers under the MI Home Help program. Typically relatives of the care recipients -parents, spouses, adult children- these caregivers are forced to have a portion of their paycheck paid to the SEIU.

• Since 2005 SEIU's representation of MI Home Help caregivers has netted the SEIU over $6 million dollars a year. In other words,tens of millions dollars has been depleted from Medicaid funds and given to the SEIU.

If Proposal 4 is defeated, this skimming of dues could end immediately. However if Proposal 4 passes, the mandatory union membership will be guaranteed by the Michigan Constitution.  The union is not asking for a law to be passed but to change the constitution of the state.

The major issue of contention is who exactly is the employer of these Home Help Caregivers?

• SEIU says they are all State employees
• Governor Snyder says they are not.

In fact,  the Governor recently signed a law that explicitly states the unionization of Home Help workers is illegal because they are not employed by the state. The higher courts will decide this issue and in the meantime, the SEIU is hoping to secure their base of homecare workers with a constitutional amendment.

What does the Michigan Private Duty Association think of Proposal 4?

Senior home care agencies are members of the "private duty association" as private duty means caregiving services.  They see Proposal 4 as over-reaching and quite possibly illegal and encouraging Michigan residents to vote no next Tuesday. They also have formed a PAC which you may donate to - the Michigan Chapter of NPDA .  The Michigan NPDA's PAC is working to spread the word on what Proposal 4 really does and who it benefits. 

Senior caregivers may apply for a senior caregiving job in Michigan and find professional senior care companies for caregiving services.