Michigan child care workers sue to break from union

[The Northerner]

DETROIT – Peggy Mashke tends to 12 children for 12 hours a day at her home, so she was surprised to get a letter welcoming her to the United Auto Workers union.

"I thought it was a joke," said Mashke, 50, of northern Michigan's Ogemaw County. "I work out of my home. I'm not an auto worker. How can I become a member of the UAW? I didn't get it."

Willing or not, Mashke and 40,000 other at-home providers are members of a labor partnership that represents people across Michigan who watch children from low-income families. Two unions receive 1.15 percent of the state subsidies granted to those providers, or more than $1 million a year.

Mashke has given up about $100 this year, and while she says it's not a huge amount of money, she's among a small group of home-based providers suing in federal court to break free from organized labor.

"It's the principle. It's my constitutional rights," she said.

The plaintiffs claim they were driven into the union and forced to support it financially even though they work at home, are hired by families and are not state employees. In some cases, they are even related to the children in their care.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100912/ap_on_bi_ge/us_child_care_union

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. All union membership should be optional

And I'm a union member. I've always believed that unions should have to earn their members. Forcing workers to join is unfair to the workers.

[aquart]

3. And I'm sure they get zero benefits for that hundred dollars, right?

Bull cookies.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. I have no idea what they get

Do you?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. Its not clear what benefits they get since they are essentially self employed

set their own rates etc. They are effectively management of small businesses.

[madrchsod]

5. 15% bothered to actually vote while the majority were in favor of the union

after reading the contract it`s a good deal for both parties. a professional union workforce is always a benefit to both parties.

[Doremus]

11. Okay, I'll agree .... so long as those who choose not to join don't share in benefits of membership

i.e., no raises negotiated by union, no health care benefits negotiated by union, no vacation leave, etc., etc.

I have a problem with people expecting to share advantages without assuming any of the responsibilities ... whether they are politicians, military contractors, banks or workers.

My remarks are addressed to the larger point you bring up regarding what you believe should be optional union membership, not necessarily this particular case as I haven't really read about it. Thanks.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. Or they can pay a shop fee

There is no reason workers should benefit from negotiations without paying the union that negotiated the contract. Sorry I should have stated that in my post.

[wickerwoman]

13. Agreed.

I'm as pro-union as they come but I was shocked when I was applying for a seasonal temp job that we were required to join a union that demanded $25 in dues each week regardless of how many hours we worked. The job was advertised as $11.25/hr but when we got to the interview they changed it to minimum wage ($8.25). And they only promised us 5-8 hours a week for the first few weeks. So I could have been making $40 a week and having the union take $25. That's why people hate unions folks!

Dues should be calibrated to number of hours worked and the position. Seasonal and temp workers should not be required to join (after all, what "benefits" are they reaping? Certainly not full-time employment, vacations, medical insurance, etc.)

[Bill McBlueState]

14. "That's why people hate unions"

I know, people hate unions because of various anecdotes. It's frustrating.

[wickerwoman]

15. It's not an anecdote

when you're the one sitting in the interview, desperate for work, doing the math and realizing after taxes and union dues you'll be making $3 an hour.

Like I said, I totally support unions that support workers. But what is the point of unions going after seasonal temp workers doing less than 10 hr/wk with fixed weekly dues? Support for unions is eroding from the bottom as well as the top. And a big part of it is that some unions make it pretty damn easy for companies to villify them.

[aquart]

2. Oh, look who brought the suit for them. National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation

And who could possibly be funding them?

* Castle Rock Foundation is Coors.

* John M. Olin Foundation funds right wing think tanks:
American Enterprise Institute (AEI),
Brookings Institution,
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS),
Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy,
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR),
Heritage Foundation,
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace,
Hudson Institute,
Independent Women's Forum,
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University,
Manhattan Institute for Public Policy Research,
Project for the New American Century (PNAC).

The other three names seem incomplete.
* Shelby Cullon Foundation
* Jaquelin Foundation
* Roe Foundation

Seriously, this is why I don't get all gooey when rich men announce huge donations to charity.

[marmar]

7. Exactly......

They are about as subtle as an intoxicated rhino in a glassware shop.

[blondeatlast]

9. A Who's Who of setting the citizens of the US back 125 years. nt

[Snotcicles]

16. Yeah their on a big F-ing push here in Michigan. Again

No unions, No rules. Everybody gets a screwing.

[Starry Messenger]

17. Same here:

Seriously, this is why I don't get all gooey when rich men announce huge donations to charity.

Geeze, all of those assholes combined is like dropping a nuke.

[DainBramaged]

8. More money is spent trying to bust the Unions by these clowns than we will ever know

And I GUARANTEE this woman is being supported by the consortium suing.

[PassingFair]

10. Sounds like subsidies are involved.

"people across Michigan who watch children from low-income families".

If they want to split from the union,
the subsidies should go to
an organization with some accountability....