Is SEIU Using Unionization to Extort Medicaid Money From Home Caregivers?

Michigan's elderly citizens have a problem -- their Medicare money may be funding unions rather than their own care. Breitbart.com reports that following a scheme by the SEIU to unionize home care givers for elderly people and disabled children, the SEIU has been pilfering millions of dollars from Michigan's coffers in mandatory dues -- dollars that could have gone toward higher wages for caregivers, or better care being offered. Watch a video courtesy of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy explaining the problem here:

The Blaze has covered this topic before. We brought you the story of Robert and Patricia Haynes - two parents in Michigan who the SEIU has been collecting dues from for taking care of their own children. Shame is apparently not this particular group's strong suit.

And -- and this may surprise a few Michiganders -- Republicans may be letting the unions get away with this by refusing to bring up a bill that pans this sort of skimming. From the Breitbart story:

Here’s the whole story: In Michigan, many disabled people receive public subsidies, which they can then use to hire caretakers. Very often, those disabled people are cared for by their parents, who use the subsidies to ensure proper care for their children.

Thanks to former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm (D), back in 2005, the SEIU was able to rope these caretakers into a union in an unpublicized election in which 80 percent of the caretakers didn’t vote. But, you say, these people weren’t government employees. Why would they need a union? The answer is simple: they don’t. The SEIU simply wanted to unionize these folks to allow them to extract forced dues. Those dues are skimmed off of Medicaid payments, and handed over to the union. The result: $29 million poured into the SEIU’s coffers since 2007.[...]

In 2011, the Michigan House voted to stop this scam by stating that receiving government subsidies didn’t make one eligible for a union. That measure has now stalled in the Michigan Senate, thanks to Michigan Republicans. Why don’t they stop the SEIU? Maybe it’s because Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Sen. Roger Khan (R-Saginaw) took $5,000 from the SEIU … on the same day the House bill made its way to the Senate.

Given Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's clashes with unions, this particular fact may surprise some readers. However, the publicity generated by Sen. Khan's stance may force his hand on this subject sooner than expected.