Union Electrician and Wife: 'The SEIU Never Did Anything For Us'
Milliron family says they don't think the SEIU should be able to lock its forced unionization into the state constitution
Geri Milliron wasn't going to be bullied by the Service Employees International Union.
She's spent her life taking care of her son, Ronnie, and knew that the union could provide nothing to make his life better. So when she noticed that union dues were being deducted from the Medicaid dollars the family was getting to take care of their quadriplegic son, she took action.
And won.
Unlike the tens of thousands of others in Michigan who have been forced into the unionization scheme orchestrated by the SEIU when Jennifer Granholm was governor, Milliron got out.
“I’m not afraid to speak out and I did,” she said. “The SEIU never did anything for us and they can’t help any parents who take care of their kids. I’m not a union member, I’m a mother and I’m on the clock 24/7.”
The Macomb Township mom said she was forced into the SEIU in 2006 and for two years had about $20 a month taken from her family by the union. She said she never got a ballot to vote for unionization and never got any information from the SEIU after the mail-in election.
“But I saw that some union was taking money from us and I started asking questions,” she said.
She fought back by going to Lansing to get answers and by getting her state representative to ask questions. She demanded that money not be taken and the union backed down, she said.
“I got paid back with two checks from them and never heard from them again,” she said. “They don’t take money from us anymore, but I’m afraid they’re going to get me back with Proposal 4.”
The SEIU has taken more than $32 million from people like the Millirons and it wants to lock its unionization scheme into the state constitution with Proposal 4.
That worries Milliron and her husband, Ron. Neither are anti-union, Geri Milliron said, but the SEIU has “no business in people’s homes.” Ron Milliron, who is a master electrician and a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, also can’t believe that the SEIU pulled off this scheme.
He scoffs at the notion that the SEIU could provide training or improve working conditions of the people it represents. In fact, he says, his wife is better positioned to train people in how to take care of a disabled family member than any union representative because she’s been doing it daily for 35 years.
Ronnie Milliron can’t walk or talk and is like a 5-month old, Geri Milliron said. He is spoon-fed and his parents take care of his every need.
There is nothing the SEIU can do to help, Geri Milliron said.
“The problem I see with Proposal 4 is that they want to put it in the state constitution and then force us back in the union,” Geri Milliron said. “I don’t want back in."
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.
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Prop 2 Supporters Misled on Other States
The proponents of Proposal 2 made the rounds claiming that collective bargaining has been put in other states' constitutions and therefore Proposal 2 was nothing new or radical.
Their statement was meant to mislead. While some state constitutions allow collective bargaining, no other state constitution allows collective bargaining agreements to override state laws related to “wages, hours, and terms of conditions of employment,” a very broad term that includes matters as trivial as the price of candy bars and soda at work.
Looking at some other state constitutions, Article 1, Section 6 of Florida’s Constitution allows collective bargaining, but provides right-to-work protections and prohibits government-employee strikes:
Missouri’s Article 1, Section 29, allows collective bargaining for private and public employees, but does not have state law trumped by collective bargaining agreements:
Article 1, Section 19 of New Jersey’s Constitution allows private-sector bargaining, but not government-sector bargaining. It states:
Article 13, Sections 1 and 2 of Hawaii’s Constitution allow collective bargaining in both the private and public sectors, but does not allow the trumping of state law:
A few things stand out. First, just as was the case with Michigan’s now failed Proposal 2, the states that put private-sector bargaining in their constitution are acting redundantly. Federal law has allowed private-sector bargaining since 1935 and no change in that law is likely.
But more importantly, Michigan’s Proposal 2 differed from these other states in a couple of key ways. Unlike Missouri, New Jersey and Hawaii, which are neutral on right-to-work protections and directly in contrast to Florida on that issue, Michigan’s Proposal 2 absolutely would have prohibited passage of a right-to-work law. Most importantly, however, Proposal 2 was alone in allowing collective bargaining agreements to override state laws.
Proposal 2 was a radical idea that gives tremendous power to unions to obtain a special set of rules for themselves and their membership that cannot be altered, modified or reformed by the Legislature. No other state has taken this drastic step.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.
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