Two daycare providers say they're being forced to pay union dues
Two Michigan daycare providers say they're being forced to join a union and pay union dues.
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy out of Midland is taking on the case saying these women work for their customers not a union they didn't vote for.
Sherry Loar owns her own daycare center in Petosky. So does Dawn Ives next door. They both have clients that receive financial assistance for childcare because of their low income.
They say, because of that, they're being forced into a union and to pay union dues.
Sherry Loar says, "I got it in the mail. I opened a letter that said the daycare became some part of a union, and we would be paying union dues. I said 'what?'"
Dawn Ives says, "I'm being forced to join something I don't need to be a part of."
The Midland-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy has filed a lawsuit against Michigan's Department of Human Services for allegedly forcing union dues.
Patrick Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, says "All we're asking is, to say to DHS, stop taking out the union dues."
The Mackinac Center says the Department of Human Services, along with the help of Mott Community College, created the "Michigan Home-based Child Care Council," which serves as the bargaining agent for the daycare providers. The union is called "Childcare Providers Together Michigan." That union is a joint operation of the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) unions.
The Mackinac Center says, these are independent daycare providers, not government employees that the union represents.
Wright says, "These are people that are running businesses out of their homes. Some of them have their own employees. So if you have your own employees, it's difficult to see how you ended up in a union in the first place."
Ives says, "I am not anti-union. I grew up in a union family all of my life. It was great for my dad. It worked for him, but it doesn't belong here."
The Mackinac Center says the dues taken out of the subsidy checks aren't a lot of money, just 1.15% from each subsidy check.
The Center says, across the state, it equals $3.7 million in union dues annually.
The Department of Human Services tells NBC25 it can't comment on pending litigation.
