SEIU Healthcare Michigan loses 44,000 members after they were no longer forced to unionize. Worse, Service Employees International Union has shrinkage all over.
By Brad Tidwell
The SEIU has always been all about using dirty tricks and shady lobbying to accomplish their only real goal- to grow at any cost. But what SEIU Healthcare Michigan did to home healthcare workers in their state has to be one of the dirtiest tricks ever used.
SEIU Healthcare Michigan exploited a legal loophole using the Michigan Quality Community Care Council (MCQ3) to force parents and family of sick children into their union. Families who saved the state thousands of dollars a month by taking care of adult children with disabilities had money taken out of their pockets as they were forced to pay dues to the SEIU. Meanwhile, the SEIU racked up nearly $33 Million in forced dues.
It took a court ruling and a statewide ballot initiative for judges and voters to finally put an end to the SEIU’s disgusting practice. Now that the SEIU has been forced to stop unionizing these families, it seems these healthcare workers are no longer interested in the SEIU’s “services”:
More than 44,000 home-based healthcare workers parted ways with SEIU Healthcare Michigan after learning they did not have to join the union or pay dues, according to reports the union filed with the U.S. Department of Labor.
So SEIU Healthcare Michigan is feeling the icy chill of tens of thousands of members leaving their union. Like the George Costanza character in the Seinfeld TV show, the union is experiencing “significant shrinkage”. But unlike Costanza, the shrinkage isn’t just limited to one area…
Previous articles at the SEIU Monitor have shown that since 2006, membership growth has stalled and as of 2012, the union was losing members. A further examination of the SEIU’s 2013 LM-2 report shows that this trend has continued into 2013- far from being the “Fastest Growing Union” as they claim, the SEIU lost nearly 10,000 members in 2013. When you look at the change in growth numbers for the union, the SEIU is clearly in trouble:
SEIU- the Fastest Shrinking Union?
This chart shows that while the SEIU lost fewer members in 2013 than they did in 2012, they are still losing members at a considerable rate. In fact, the union has not gained a net total of members since 2011. This is problem they can’t just ascribe to the cold. Due to repeated SEIU scandals and union mismanagement, it seems the union’s policy of “add members at any cost” has backfired.
The union that calls itself the “Fastest growing union” should be watching out. With a significant shrinkage problem, they’ll find themselves becoming the “fastest shrinking union” before too long.
