A group of Michigan home day care providers are suing the UAW, AFSCME and the Governor of Michigan to leave a union that they say they did not want or need. Under a 2006 deal, home day care providers whose clients get government help are part of the UAW-AFSCME unit Child Care Providers Working Together. 1.15% of every check the government writes to these day care providers is taken out as union dues. This is around $3.7 million a year for the UAW and AFSCME. The group who is suing says that the union said that they would negotiate better pay and benefits, but the union has no authority to set rates or provide benefits. The plaintiffs say that they were not given a choice to join the union, they do not want to be part of it and that the union has done nothing for them. The suit went to the Michigan Supreme Court this March.
See "Union offered home day care providers pay, benefits", Dawson Bell, Detroit Free Press, April 19, 2010