Prop 4 Would Put Union Scam in Constitution

(Editor’s Note: The following is excerpted and abridged from the text of a speech delivered by Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative for the Mackinac Center, to various groups around the state about the ballot proposals on the Nov. 6 ballot. We'll post one part each day this week explaining Proposals 1 through 5.)

Monday: Proposal 1 a Referendum on PA 4

Tuesday: Proposal 2: More Power for Government Unions

Wednesday: Proposal 3 Would Cost Taxpayers Billions

Proposal 4 is the third of three major union-backed proposals on the Nov. 6 ballot. According to Ballotpedia, it “would place features of the Michigan Quality Community Care Council in the state Constitution.”

So what is the Michigan Quality Community Care Council, also known as “MCQ3?” It’s a tale that began seven years ago, during Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s time in office. Her administration got together with the Service Employees International Union to whip-up a dummy government “employer” for some 41,000  [there were 41,000 ballots sent out to “employees” for about 53,000 care recipients] individuals who are employed by a disabled person to provide in-home health care services, using money the disabled person gets from Medicaid.

The dummy employer then turned around and entered a contract with the union that extracted dues from every one of those checks. This union dues “skim-scam” has funneled more than $32 million from disabled people into SEIU coffers, for which the unionized employees receive absolutely no benefit.

It’s a shocking travesty of justice, which is why the Mackinac Center sued the state over a similar scam for home-based day care providers. We have exposed this one through a series of articles and videos, like this one.

I’m happy to report that the bill mentioned in the video finally got out of the senate and was signed into law, but sadly I must also tell you that, thanks to a union lawsuit and a compliant federal judge, the scam continues. The Mackinac Center has since sued to stop this immoral financial skimming.

The handwriting is on the wall for the unions, which is why the SEIU bankrolled an initiative to actually enshrine this skim-scam into the state constitution.

Ironically, the name of the ballot committee pushing this initiative is the “Citizens for Affordable Quality Home Care.” Of course the measure has nothing to do with “affordable,” “quality,” or “care,” but other than that the label is accurate. 

A “yes” vote on this initiative would allow the work of the dummy employer to continue since the MQC3 would be replaced with the Michigan Quality Home Care Council. This new organization would also pretend these relatives of disabled sick people are "government employees" in perpetuity, even though they are accorded no paycheck, health insurance, retirement benefits or civil service status.

A "no" vote rejects the scheme.

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.