MICHIGAN: SEIU Membership Drops 80 Percent After Dues Skim Ends.

More than 44,000 home-based caregivers no longer are part of the SEIU Healthcare Michigan, according to federal reports filed by the union.

The workers previously were forced to pay dues or fees to the SEIU after the union orchestrated a scheme that took money from the Medicaid checks of the people the workers were caring for in homes across the state. The “dues skim” ended in 2013, but not before the SEIU took more than $34 million from the elderly and disabled across the state. . . .

The dues skim scheme was created in 2005 when Jennifer Granholm was governor and incorporated the use of a dummy employer, the by-mail election, and assistance by some Republicans in the Legislature who did not act to end the scheme with legislation. The dues skim lasted from 2006 to early 2013. . . .

In addition, the SEIU, the international union behind the SEIU Healthcare Michigan, was fined almost $200,000 for concealing that it bankrolled Proposal 4 of 2012 — the failed ballot effort to lock the forced unionization of home-based caregivers into the state constitution. According to state officials, the penalty the SEIU was assessed for the campaign finance violations was the second largest in Michigan history.

Is “dues skim” a euphemism for “theft”?