It's a local lawsuit that has received national attention. Midland's Mackinac Center Legal Foundation is accusing the Michigan Department of Human Services of forcing self-employed child care providers into a union and to pay dues.
Judges threw that case out.
Now, the Mackinac Center is appealing.
The Center, along with a some child care owners rallied at Lansing's Hall of Justice saying owners were swept into a union.
The union says, the vote was fair and square, even though of the 40,000 possible votes around 6,000 cast a ballot.
The Mackinac Center says, the vote is beside the point.
Michael Jahr, senior director for communications for the Mackinac Center says, "Is an embezzler taking your money and spending it well? That's not really the question. The question is, should there be embezzling in the first place? In this case this is what's happening is they have gone into people's homes, declared they're government workers, and started taking money away from them."
Michelle Berry, who is a plaintiff in the case and owns the Berry Patch Child Day Care says, "They say we're government employees. We have no insurance. We're self-employed. It makes it rough to swallow."
NBC25 contacted the Department of Human Services who's listed as the defendant in the case. It says, it can't comment on pending litigation.
