The shell corporation created by Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration and labor allies to shanghai 40,000 home-based day care providers into a union has "no authority to set rates or provide benefits," according to the Detroit Free Press.

Some $3.7 million in "dues" is taken from small-business owners who operate day cares in their homes. The money comes out of subsidy checks the contractors receive from the state on behalf of low-income parents who hire home-based child care operators while they work or attend school.

"I don't work for the state. I work for my families," Michelle Berry, a day care owner from Flint, told the Free press.

Berry is a co-plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation. It is now before the Michigan Supreme Court.

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for the Department of Human Services will meet today at 12:30 p.m. It continues to seek answers as to why the DHS is still operating the Michigan Home Based Child Care Council despite cutting its funding. The Senate Committee on Families and Human Services will meet at 2:30 p.m. today to discuss legislation that would end the forced unionization of home-based day care owners.

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.