Unionizing Daycare??

[MN Mom]

To call an independent business such as a daycare owner/operator a "union member" is in itself a crime.

It falls under the RICO Act due to it's price fixing/gouging, monopolistic control of the marketplace, and is punishable by $20k in fines and up to 25 years in prison per count.

Many RICO classified offenses apply here-extortion, bribery (if you wanna work, you gotta pay the thugs first) along with embezzlement of union funds (been a union member once upon a time, I can tell you they're all corrupt).

The union lying to you and saying that they bring the power of collective bargaining to the table is just that, a lie. The power of collective bargaining lies in the possibility of a workforce walkout/strike. As independent business persons, daycare providers cannot do this, it's called extortion. If you don't believe that, ask the air traffic controllers what Reagan did to them.

If you come in contact with a union salesman (that's what they are, they're trying to get you to buy into their product), ask them the hard questions....what are your strike benefits?
What kind of insurance is available?
What kind of pension plan do you have in place?
What is the paid holidays, and where does that pay come from?
What professional training programs do they have in place?
Will union representation be present at any and all disciplinary hearings and actions, and fight upon your behalf?
Will the union now become the go-between for provider and administrative authority when it comes to filing greivances?

If they answer NO or stammer to any of these questions, that says they're not looking out for you, but looking for a cash influx.


I see why the unions in MI pushed for this....they're now saddled with the retiree costs (UAW) and coupled with decreasing memberships (plant closings and cutbacks in production) they have to get their money from somewhere, so they're gonna steal it from you.

I believe this is the same reason farmers cannot be unionized, no? If they went on "strike" the worlds food supply would be in serious jeopardy. Controlling the food supply could be too powerful a bargaining chip, one would think. Now, farm workers...I'm not so sure about. I'll have to ask my husband, as he farms with his parents, and they have employees...but I have never heard of them going on strike.

Since you seem to know a lot about unions, I figured you'd be the person to ask! Sorry for going off-topic!

I loathe Unions. They are partially the reason we have so many BAD teachers still on the payrolls of schools across the nation. It is simply too expensive (legally speaking) to fire the bad apples...even if they commit a crime. It's a serious problem in our country today. I was reading an article on FoxNews.com about how many teachers are still on the payrolls due to union intervention, strong-arming, that should NOT be there.

[booroo]

I believe this is the same reason farmers cannot be unionized, no? If they went on "strike" the worlds food supply would be in serious jeopardy. Controlling the food supply could be too powerful a bargaining chip, one would think. Now, farm workers...I'm not so sure about. I'll have to ask my husband, as he farms with his parents, and they have employees...but I have never heard of them going on strike.

Since you seem to know a lot about unions, I figured you'd be the person to ask! Sorry for going off-topic!

I loathe Unions. They are partially the reason we have so many BAD teachers still on the payrolls of schools across the nation. It is simply too expensive (legally speaking) to fire the bad apples...even if they commit a crime. It's a serious problem in our country today. I was reading an article on FoxNews.com about how many teachers are still on the payrolls due to union intervention, strong-arming, that should NOT be there.

As far as the farmers being a part of a Union NO, they can not, they are self employed. But employees can be, if they are willing to start one....Now most farms are not big enough nor do they employee enough people to have enough funds to buy into a Union. Plus most employees for Farms get what I call great under the table wages, that when counted into an actaully wage, would be a very fair wages. So Im not sure why they would.

As far as the teachers....Dont get me started.......My son was called stupid, dumb, ignorate, and be littled by a teacher when he was in the 2nd, that teacher is still teaching, and she is now teaching 1st graders.....We took our children out of that school and moved so that my younger 2 will not be subject to her, my one daughter was, and while she was not mean to her, she was mean to other students in the class that my daughter witnessed. She would come home crying.....When I went to the school board about the problem with my son......I was told that she does not remember saying any of those words to my son, even though 5 students came foward and said they heard her.....The adult teachers words was worth more than the students........Why cant we have a union for our students, there is there voice in all of this. This teacher was so scared of my son, being smarter than her, that she be littled him until he thought he was dumb.....Guess what, in next year straight As, and the next and the next and well the path continues he is in 7th grade and a honor roll student.
The union when to bat for her, she one present at all school board meeting, and whenever she was talked or question about her behavior.

UNIONS are not good for anything but pricing business out of business, look what they did for the automotive business. Automotive car prices reflect, that cost in a big way, over 40% of 1 car is to pay 1 employee of the company!!! Crazy.

[MarinaVanessa]

I havn't heard about Unions for daycare here in CA and all I can say is thank goodness. When I think about Unions all I can think about is how my fiance is in a union (for the county) and how one set of employees wanted more health benefits, which I thought was rediculous because the county has great health benefits with great doctors and great coverage which covers more than any other county in Southern CA. Well, the union wanted their members to strike. They were going to be FORCED to strike. When my fiance talked to his rep he was told that if he didn't strike that he would be fined per day that he worked instead of striked!! Um ... we have a mortgage, bills etc!! We can't afford to not work. He is not salary and if he does go on strike we simply do not get paid. Well, needless to say my fiance spoke to a few other employees (quite a few) that felt the same and would rather be fined the rediculous amount per day and at least get a paycheck rather than nothing and risk losing their homes. Everyone else thought that the benefits were fine, it was just this one unit. So in the end nothing ended up happening. Apparently it was one untit of 8 people against the rest of the building. It was rediculous.

[childcare.mi]

Fighting Michigan Unionization

I am a group home provider in Michigan and have been forced into unionization against my wishes. A group of us have filed a class action Federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of this practice. This is a pure money grab on the part of the unions. They are currently making almost 4 million dollars a year on home providers union dues. If we were to win this case, it would be a win for all providers! There is a lot of mis-information out there. Please educate yourself and start with requesting a copy of your "union contract". You'll see that the union you are paying doesn't have any authority to do anything but lobby on your behalf. (That is one expensive lobbiest!) If you would like to read more about the pending lawsuit please read below. I've enclosed a copy of the news release by the National Right to Work Legal Foundation who is providing legal services.

Carrie


Michigan Home-Care Providers File Class-Action Suit Challenging Union Boss/Granholm Unionization Scheme

Right to Work Foundation attorneys challenge Governor and union boss collusion to force home-care providers under union control

Lansing, MI (February 17, 2010) – With free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys, a group of Michigan home-based day-care providers have filed a class-action federal lawsuit against government union officials and Governor Granholm's Administration for illegally forcing them to pay union dues.

Carrie Schlaud and Diana Orr of Lapeer County, Edward and Nora Gross of Ingham County, and Peggy Mashke of Ogemaw County -- with assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation -- filed the federal suit today on behalf of all of Michigan’s 40,000 home-care providers.

The suit challenges a scheme created by Granholm, Michigan Department of Human Services (DHS) officials, and a union front group called "Child Care Providers Together Michigan" (CCPTM) to designate home-care providers who accept state assistance as "state employees" and foist CCPTM union political "representation" on them. CCPTM is an operation run by the United Autoworker (UAW) and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSME) unions.

Under Granholm’s direction, DHS officials created the "Michigan Home Based Child Care Council" to provide the union bosses with an entity to deal with as the "management" of the home child-care providers. Even though only 15 percent of the 40,000 day-care providers voted in the union certification election, the CCPTM union hierarchy was granted monopoly bargaining privileges and political representation of all the home-care providers.

The DHS now siphons union dues from the providers' paychecks and forwards the money into the union bosses' bank accounts. Recent media reports suggest that in exchange for their special government-granted privileges to force Michigan's home-care providers under union monopoly control, the union bosses benefiting from this scheme contribute to various pro-compulsory unionism politicians in Michigan, including Governor Granholm.

The class-action suit challenges the forced-unionism scheme on the grounds that it violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of free political expression and association.

"This scheme is nothing more than pure political payback; union bosses funnel millions of dollars to the campaigns of pro-forced unionism politicians, and the same politicians are forcing home-care providers to pay tens of millions of dollars into union boss coffers," said Patrick Semmens, Legal Information Director of the National Right to Work Foundation.

The federal lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Southern Division.

[Chickenhauler]

I believe this is the same reason farmers cannot be unionized, no? If they went on "strike" the worlds food supply would be in serious jeopardy. Controlling the food supply could be too powerful a bargaining chip, one would think. Now, farm workers...I'm not so sure about. I'll have to ask my husband, as he farms with his parents, and they have employees...but I have never heard of them going on strike.

Since you seem to know a lot about unions, I figured you'd be the person to ask! Sorry for going off-topic!

I loathe Unions. They are partially the reason we have so many BAD teachers still on the payrolls of schools across the nation. It is simply too expensive (legally speaking) to fire the bad apples...even if they commit a crime. It's a serious problem in our country today. I was reading an article on FoxNews.com about how many teachers are still on the payrolls due to union intervention, strong-arming, that should NOT be there.

Nope, farmers can't create a union to influence their "workplace" aka "market price".

I own a long haul trucking company, and we went through all this a couple years ago when fuel was $5/gallon and we were spending $10k per month per truck on fuel.

Lots of guys were talking about going on strike, and the cooler heads (and wiser) pointed out that for independent truckers to group up and shut down like that, is a crime under the RICO acts of extortion.

Farm workers can organize a union and collectively bargain with the employer for better wages, benefits, vacation pay, etc. They can also go on strike if they don't get what they want. The farmer can also say "Bye bye, you're fired" to those who don't show up for work.

Maybe I'm a greedy guy, but I always ask "What's in it for me?"

[Chickenhauler]

I am a group home provider in Michigan and have been forced into unionization against my wishes. A group of us have filed a class action Federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of this practice. This is a pure money grab on the part of the unions. They are currently making almost 4 million dollars a year on home providers union dues. If we were to win this case, it would be a win for all providers! There is a lot of mis-information out there. Please educate yourself and start with requesting a copy of your "union contract". You'll see that the union you are paying doesn't have any authority to do anything but lobby on your behalf. (That is one expensive lobbiest!) If you would like to read more about the pending lawsuit please read below. I've enclosed a copy of the news release by the National Right to Work Legal Foundation who is providing legal services.

Carrie


Michigan Home-Care Providers File Class-Action Suit Challenging Union Boss/Granholm Unionization Scheme

Right to Work Foundation attorneys challenge Governor and union boss collusion to force home-care providers under union control

Lansing, MI (February 17, 2010) – With free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys, a group of Michigan home-based day-care providers have filed a class-action federal lawsuit against government union officials and Governor Granholm's Administration for illegally forcing them to pay union dues.

Carrie Schlaud and Diana Orr of Lapeer County, Edward and Nora Gross of Ingham County, and Peggy Mashke of Ogemaw County -- with assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation -- filed the federal suit today on behalf of all of Michigan’s 40,000 home-care providers.

The suit challenges a scheme created by Granholm, Michigan Department of Human Services (DHS) officials, and a union front group called "Child Care Providers Together Michigan" (CCPTM) to designate home-care providers who accept state assistance as "state employees" and foist CCPTM union political "representation" on them. CCPTM is an operation run by the United Autoworker (UAW) and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSME) unions.

Under Granholm’s direction, DHS officials created the "Michigan Home Based Child Care Council" to provide the union bosses with an entity to deal with as the "management" of the home child-care providers. Even though only 15 percent of the 40,000 day-care providers voted in the union certification election, the CCPTM union hierarchy was granted monopoly bargaining privileges and political representation of all the home-care providers.

The DHS now siphons union dues from the providers' paychecks and forwards the money into the union bosses' bank accounts. Recent media reports suggest that in exchange for their special government-granted privileges to force Michigan's home-care providers under union monopoly control, the union bosses benefiting from this scheme contribute to various pro-compulsory unionism politicians in Michigan, including Governor Granholm.

The class-action suit challenges the forced-unionism scheme on the grounds that it violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of free political expression and association.

"This scheme is nothing more than pure political payback; union bosses funnel millions of dollars to the campaigns of pro-forced unionism politicians, and the same politicians are forcing home-care providers to pay tens of millions of dollars into union boss coffers," said Patrick Semmens, Legal Information Director of the National Right to Work Foundation.

The federal lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Southern Division.

Good for you guys, keep us updated.

In the meantime, bankrupt the union. Show up to the union hall with every daycare kid in tow (keep them up from their naps prior) for every union meeting, file a grievance over every little petty minute thing, and generally, be a royal PITA. Repeatedly request literature that you are entitled to under the law, daily if you remember to do so. Make them spend 10x's your dues in paper, toner and postage. Any pre-paid postage envelopes you get from them, cram it full of your junk mail and send it back....they gotta pay that postage, the heavier, the more expensive it is for them.

Make them wish they never thought of this 'let's steal money from people who don't even want us around' tactic.

[Childminder]

Here is another 'good one' from our Mi union. Saturday I received a candidates election form that we are to select up to seven candidates and return for elections by April 26. I don't have any knowledge of any of the candidates so I went on the internet to see if there is any info to educate myself about them. The first one I found was a FBI lawyer, whatever, the second one I found was convicted of utility fraud. Oh yeah, and the best one is Tammy.....no last name....just Tammy. WTF?

[childcare.mi]

Mich. Union

Amazing!! The thing is...I can't even get "my union" to answer the phone, return calls OR send me ANY information. All the union does for me, is collect my union dues! I'll keep you posted. Watch the news...I'm sure there will be more information in the media too.

Carrie

[MyKids]

THe Cheating Union

This union is robbing us. I agree with all of the posts. How do I make sure I am a part of the fight?

[Childminder]

[QUOTE=childcare.mi;25829]I am a group home provider in Michigan and have been forced into unionization against my wishes. A group of us have filed a class action Federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of this practice. This is a pure money grab on the part of the unions. They are currently making almost 4 million dollars a year on home providers union dues. If we were to win this case, it would be a win for all providers! There is a lot of mis-information out there. Please educate yourself and start with requesting a copy of your "union contract". You'll see that the union you are paying doesn't have any authority to do anything but lobby on your behalf. (That is one expensive lobbiest!) If you would like to read more about the pending lawsuit please read below. I've enclosed a copy of the news release by the National Right to Work Legal Foundation who is providing legal services.

Carrie
QUOTE]

Carrie, I'm in Waterford so not far from you. I would like more information about the lawsuit and if you would like to give me some resources you could PM me. I'm am not in favor of paying these 'lobbyists' for nothing.

[Unregistered]

I would be for a union if it helped us providers that were having issues and to make the regs eaiser seems to me the person who comes up with some of these have never had children or have done our job. I would be willing to pay a fee each year if I had someone to back me up. I feel that sometimes everyone thinks we sit around all day and do nothing.

The Union has provided help to numerous providers with getting there paychecks, talking to dhs on their behalf and setting up hearings and going with them on there behalf. They also call providers to make sure that they have had their training or remind them to schedule training so they can continue providing care. There is a hotline # you can call to get help.

[Unregistered]

I would like to say that the CCPTM contacts for the chlild care union have also been providers and have been in the situations where they wished they would of had a union to turn to . They are just like you and they are looking out for you and want to help.

[jen]

I would like to say that the CCPTM contacts for the chlild care union have also been providers and have been in the situations where they wished they would of had a union to turn to . They are just like you and they are looking out for you and want to help.

Your opinions would carry more weight if you registered....

[MarinaVanessa]

I would like to say that the CCPTM contacts for the chlild care union have also been providers and have been in the situations where they wished they would of had a union to turn to . They are just like you and they are looking out for you and want to help.

I think more people would be open to do more research and finding out more about what a union could do for them if the weren't being forced to join. Looks to me like providers have no choice and have to do it. I don't think that it's right and I can't think of anything that I needed help for in daycare that only a union could help me with. I'm sure that there are some situations where a provider could find themself needing help with legal issues or other situations but a lawyer could easily help me with that and I only need to pay a lawyer his fee when I need his services and not on a regular bases even when I don't need him.

[professionalmom]

Yep - forced union! I got the list of candidates and could not find anything of significance on any of them. I do not remember getting an "opt-out" letter.

Oh, and about higher wages - HA! HA! HA! I was getting $3.11 per hour per child under age 2 1/2 years (with the incentive for under 2 1/2). Now I get $2.60 per hour for that same age child. I used to get $2.90 per hour per child over 2 1/2 years. Now I get $2.40 per hour per child over age 2 1/2 years. That's a $0.50 - 0.51 DECREASE in wages. Now, try to go to the parents and ask for a higher copay because DHS has lowered their reimbursement amount. Add the union dues on top of it and in MY county, we have lost BIG! I have actually LOST CLIENTS because they could not afford to make up that difference, which was not MY fault. If I don't have the clients make up the difference that would be a loss of $20 per week per child! If I have 4 DCKs on subsidy, that's an $80 per week loss in income ($4160 loss per year)!!

Health Insurance - I can't get any info on that either.

This union has totally screwed all of us in this county.