Documents acquired by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy through a Freedom of Information Act request show that unions representing government employees fared well in 2009, in spite of a nationwide recession that has hit Michigan especially hard. Union dues payments made by the state on behalf of government employees actually increased from $17.6 million in 2008 to $18.1 million in 2009. Five of the six unions that bargain collectively with the state recorded increases in dues income.

According to the Michigan Civil Service Commission, the number of state employees who are represented by a union went up slightly, from 38,504 in 2008 to 38,524 in 2009. The increase of 20 represented employees does not explain the increase in dues payments. The average state employee saw his annual union dues increase by $12.67 in 2009, from $456.97 to $469.64. And it’s very unlikely this dues hike was on account of rising costs; the consumer price index actually declined from 2008 to 2009.

The Michigan Corrections Organization, SEIU Local 526M, was the only union to report a decline in state employee dues revenue, on account of losing 400 employees in its bargaining unit. Another SEIU local, 517M, was a big winner, adding 400 employees and increasing its income by nearly $300,000. UAW Local 6000 saw its dues income go up by over $200,000. Another three unions recorded more modest gains.

These figures do not include $3.7 million in dues collected on behalf of Child Care Providers Together Michigan, the supposed representative of independent, home-based child care providers.

These membership dues are essentially guaranteed by the state under the terms of collective bargaining agreements, and the state collects these funds and transfers them over to various unions. In the end, it’s taxpayers who are paying for these unions.

The following are the state’s union dues payments in 2008 and 2009.

In early 2008, before the TEA Party movement began and well before "cap-and-trade" was a recognizable political term, Americans for Prosperity came up with a pledge for politicians. It simply required signers not to vote for any tax increases in response to climate change.

But a worldwide global warming controversy, followed by the U.N. climate change conference in Copenhagen, has spurred Michigan politicians to resurrect the pledge.

Republican U.S. Congressman Fred Upton signed the pledge on Jan. 26, becoming the first federal elected official from Michigan to sign. Seven other GOP candidates for U.S. congressional seats also have signed the pledge, four of them in 2010.

"There is much more interest now," said Scott Hagerstrom, director of the Michigan chapter of Americans for Prosperity.

The pledge originated during the early discussions in the Democrat party of a "cap-and-trade" energy policy. Cap-and-trade is a tax on coal, oil and natural gas, but instead of setting a specific tax rate, the program would cap the total level of energy usage, and companies would be forced to pay the government for emissions permits, according to AFP. The companies bid against each other, and the level of taxation is determined by an auction.

A scandal entered the global warming debate when thousands of e-mails were hacked and released involving the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia in England. The e-mails led many to believe that researchers had colluded to combat the arguments of others who doubted global warming, and that the CRU researchers tampered with data that didn't support the global warming argument.

In addition to Upton, other candidates for Michigan U.S. House seats signing the pledge include Justin Amash in the 3rd District; Wayne Kuipers and Jay Riemersma in the 2nd; Rocky Raczkowski and Paul Welday in the 9th; and Brian Rooney and Tim Walberg in the 7th.

"It is my duty and responsibility to assure the people of Michigan's 7th Congressional District that I will not use the possibility of global warming as an excuse to increase taxes," Rooney said in a press release. "... Tax increases like this do not have positive results. They will not only harm the individual, they will harm businesses, farming, and industries in Michigan that have suffered enough."