Case Ends; Forced Unionization Still a Threat

The Mackinac Center reports:

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation’s lawsuit against the Department of Human Services challenging the diversion of private home-based day care subsidies to a government employees union ended this week when the Michigan Supreme Court declared the controversy “moot.” The court likely reached this conclusion based on the Snyder administration’s decision to dismantle the program last March. MCLF Director Patrick J. Wright said that while he is pleased that his clients are free from this illegal money-grabbing scheme, state policymakers have not taken adequate steps to prevent it from happening to others.

“Justice prevailed in the sense that the illegal diversion of money has been stopped — but much remains to be done,” said Wright, who sued the DHS on behalf of home-based day care providers Sherry Loar of Petoskey, Michelle Berry of Flint and Paulette Silverson of Brighton. “Our clients’ willingness to stand up for principle led to the end of this scheme for day care providers, but a similar arrangement involving home health workers remains in place. Both schemes were designed to aid political allies of the Granholm administration by diverting to labor unions money intended to help some of the state’s neediest residents. Unfortunately, nothing is in place to prevent this from happening again.”

You'll want to read the press release.