http://freemadd.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/obamacare-hands-big-labor-billions/
Dear Madd,
“ObamaCare is a threat to your health, your freedom — and your pocketbook.”
There is a growing chorus of politicians, academics, and news types who are saying this.
I’ll let them continue to study the law.
One thing is certain, though: The new law is loaded with forced unionism provisions buried deep in its 2,500 pages. Nancy Pelosi famously said, “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what’s in it.”
Well, Foundation attorneys have studied the law, and they tell me it is filled with obscure and overt provisions that will hand union officials billions of new forced-dues dollars.
That’s why I am writing to you today.
You see, even if the new Congress tries to repeal some of the forced unionism provisions in ObamaCare, the union bosses will fight back every step of the way. And President Obama always sides with Big Labor.
Foundation attorneys must be prepared to aggressively fight the union bosses in the courts to stop workers nationwide from being forced under union boss control as a result of this new law.
Here’s just one example of the dangers uncovered by Foundation attorneys:
The union bosses will fight to keep provisions like Title VIII that creates the “Community Living Assistance Services and Supports” (CLASS) program. Under this program, ALL 50 states are ordered to create legal entities to serve as “employers” of home health care providers.
Foundation attorneys know from direct experience that schemes like this are just a trick to force non- union home health care providers into forced unionism.
We know because the Foundation is already fighting these schemes at the state level. Union bosses in Michigan, Illinois, and as many as 15 other states cooked up schemes to seize millions of dollars in forced union dues from home health care providers.
Without lifting a finger.
Foundation attorneys filed class action lawsuits in federal court in Michigan and Illinois to blow apart this forced-dues bonanza, and we can build on this crucial legal experience to attack the forced unionism provisions in ObamaCare as well.
Millions of dollars in compulsory dues are at stake in Michigan alone, but there’s an even greater danger looming.
You see, Big Labor’s scheme will also corrupt the political process by enabling Big Labor’s political puppets to handpick unions as the sole representatives for thousands of workers — and even for independent contractors.
This scheme marks a new low and is a gross violation of workers’ rights under the Constitution. Our attorneys believe this issue is so important that it could ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Now, let me explain how this politically inspired scheme to increase forced unionism power happened in Michigan.
Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm is a politician who looks for ways to expand Big Labor’s government-granted special privileges. That’s why she ordered Michigan’s Department of Human Services to enter into an agreement creating a new public body called the “Michigan Home Based Child Care Council.”
The Council that Granholm created was given a vague mandate to improve home child care through public advocacy, but its real purpose is to be the phony bargaining partner with a new union created to represent home child care providers.
The whole arrangement is a sham!
As Governor Granholm created the phony Council, union bosses of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the United Auto Workers (UAW) got together and created a new union to “bargain” with the phony Council.
They called the new union “Child Care Providers Together Michigan.” However, it really doesn’t have anything to bargain about with the phony Council, since the Council doesn’t set any terms and conditions of employment for home child care providers.
In fact, the State of Michigan itself is not the employer for the child care providers. The state just provides a taxpayer subsidy for eligible children that goes to the estimated 40,000 workers, many of whom are small businesses or independent contractors working in their own homes.
The phony “Michigan Home Based Child Care Council” recognized the phony “Child Care Providers Together Michigan” union as the monopoly bargaining agent (“exclusive representative”) of all home child care providers in the state. This union recognition followed a mail-ballot election in which roughly 5,000 workers subjected 40,532 providers to the forced-dues scheme.
Foundation staff attorneys are attacking this forced unionism scheme in federal court with a class action lawsuit on behalf of all 40,000 workers.
There are three big reasons why this lawsuit is one of the most important the Foundation is currently prosecuting — and why I need your support today:
- If a politician can handpick favorite union bosses to be the political representative of 40,000 workers (all forced to pay union dues), then any group that receives any public money can be swept into forced unionism.
- Millions of dollars in forced union dues are at stake –- money that union bosses will use to buy more political influence and gain still more special privileges.
- Union bosses are already spreading this scheme nationwide. Foundation attorneys are poised to launch lawsuits in many other states where politicians are eager to hand their Big Labor patrons millions in forced-dues windfalls.
Foundation attorneys have crafted the legal strategy to achieve maximum effectiveness by filing a class action lawsuit on behalf of all 40,000 workers affected by the Michigan scheme. Class action lawsuits are highly effective because they can return millions of dollars in refunds to workers in one lawsuit.
And because Foundation attorneys are challenging the Michigan scheme as a violation of the U.S. Constitution, a victory will serve as a precedent in other states as well.
Most importantly, victory could derail similar schemes lurking in ObamaCare. With so much at stake for the union bosses, I suspect this case will go to the U.S. Supreme Court.
That’s why I urgently need your help today. I need to know you stand ready to support the Foundation’s entire legal aid program as we carry on these strategic, important lawsuits in Michigan, Illinois, and other states.
And, because there is so much at stake here and in the new ObamaCare law, I hope you will also chip in with a generous, tax-deductible contribution of $50.
I know that $50 is a lot to ask of you, but the principles at stake in these lawsuits are so important that I hope you will be as generous as you can.
Even a lesser contribution of $25 or $10 will help us fund these lawsuits while keeping our entire strategic legal program moving forward.
The important thing is that you act today by making a generous, tax-deductible contribution.
I’m waiting to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Mark Mix
P.S. Forced unionism provisions buried in the ObamaCare law could hand the union bosses millions of new forced-dues dollars. Foundation attorneys have filed lawsuits to rip apart similar schemes at the state level, and they could establish a key precedent. This issue may ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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