Democrats steal from the poor and give to the unions

Thanks to Democrats, union to take $millions from Home Help caregivers

November 8, 2025

This excerpt from the Home Help Program Handbook explains the program:

In October, an election was held to determine if 35,000 Home Help caregivers in Michigan wanted to be represented by SEIU Healthcare Michigan. SEIU is the Service Employees International Union. Out of 35,306 ballots mailed, only 6,002 were returned, 475 of them "spoiled". Of the remaining 5,527, 4,025 were for the union, 1502 against. Here are the official results.

SEIU will soon start deducting dues from caregivers' monthly paychecks. The hourly pay rate for Home Help workers is $15.88. (source) Forty hours at $15.88 per hour comes to $635.20 a week, or $2,540.80 a month. 2.5% of that is $63.52, but the most anyone will have to pay is $55. Multiplying $55 by 35,000 comes to $1,925,000 a month for the SEIU.

How did this happen?

When SEIU came to Michigan's Democratic leaders in early 2024 and asked for help unionizing Home Help workers, they knew there were obstacles to overcome. One was that the employer for each of these 35,000 caregivers was the person they were caring for. Although the caregivers were paid through Medicaid, the arrangement was essentially a private business. How was SEIU to organize against 35,000 employers scattered all over the state? Although the Home Help Program Handbook emphasizes that the employer is the person being cared for, the Democrats came up with the idea to name a single pretend employer for all of them for purposes of collective bargaining. So they passed Senate Bill 790, which became Public Act 144. It was introduced by Senator Kevin Hertel. It made the director of the Department of Health and Human Services the employer of all Home Help caregivers "solely for the purposes of collective bargaining". The director of the Department of Health and Human Services is Elizabeth Hertel, the senator's sister-in-law.

Senator Kevin Hertel

One problem solved.

The next was how to conduct a union election for 35,000 people scattered all over the state. The Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) could do it, but they only do elections for public employees. So they passed Senate Bill 791, introduced by Senator Sylvia Santana, which became Public Act 145. It amended the Public Employment Relations Act. The main change was to the definition of "public employee". It added "Anyone who the Legislature says is a public employee":

Senator Sylvia Santana

Another problem solved. Governor Whitmer signed the bills on October 10, 2024:

From the Detroit Free Press:

Whitmer's statement that home "health" workers would be able to collectively bargain for better pay and benefits was a lie. Payment amounts are set by the legislature. Public Act 144 seems to acknowledge this:

SEIU launched a massive campaign to win election as the exclusive representative of all Home Help workers. Since MDHHS sends Home Help workers a check each month, it has their contact information - name, address, phone number and email address. MDHHS likely provided this information to SEIU.

SEIU chose to contact caregivers in person by visiting them at their homes. They passed out literature and asked them to sign a "request for exclusive representation" using an online form brought up on a mobile phone. You can see it here. It includes a dues deduction authorization at a rate of 2.5% of a member's monthly pay - not to exceed $55 per month:

That online form also says this about membership:

Note that it says membership is continuous "unless I resign by providing notice to SEIU HCMI via U.S. mail..." but it doesn't provide an address.

According to the MERC publication Guide to Public Sector Labor Relations Law in Michigan, for MERC to conduct an election, it must first be established that 30% of the employees want representation, which in this case they show by signing that online "request for exclusive representation". Thirty percent of 35,000 is 10,500 "cards". The union presents them to MERC, where they are counted and verified against a list of employees supplied by the employer. I suspect they skipped this step. Once you've named a fake employer and declared Home Help workers public employees, why not ignore the other requirements?

In early August, SEIU sent an email indicating that MERC had granted them an election:

The ballots were sent out in September. In early October, SEIU sent this email announcing victory:

As I said earlier, out of 35,000 ballots mailed, only 6,002 were returned, 475 of them "spoiled". Of the remaining 5,527, 4,025 were for the union, 1502 against. Here are the official results.

I sent MERC a FOIA request asking for "An accounting of all expenses incurred in the Bureau's conduct of the recent representation election for Home Help workers." Their October 22 reply:

The total spent on the Home Health Care Workers/SEIU Election was $33,233.66, not including Business Rely postage and MERC staff hours.

35,306 ballots were processed and mailed.

The MI Department of Technology Management and Budget (DTMB) processed all print, collating, mailing and postage.

Outgoing ballots:

Postage — $20,756.77

Mail Setup— $4,812.09

Print shop— $7,664.80

Business Reply Postage**— to be determined (** Union to reimburse this amount)

TOTAL: $33, 233.66

How can it be that only 6,002 of 35,306 ballots were returned? Did caregivers think not returning a ballot was the same as voting no?

Will dues deductions start in December? We will see. Hopefully, along with the check will be instructions on how to resign from the union. I don't believe many caregivers want $55 deducted from their paycheck. And the potential $1,925,000 a month the SEIU will receive is pretty good pay for "bargaining" with Elizabeth Hertel, who'd be happy to give them anything they want - if only she had the power to do anything.

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