Home health care provider urges caution over SEIU petition

Gloria Henry, the mother of a special needs child, has a message for home health care providers now that a Service Employees International Union member showed up at her house. Anyone who is visited by an SEIU representative should be wary of what they are signing, Henry told Michigan Capitol Confidential.

The union is collecting signatures to organize caregivers who care for their loved ones at home. The Legislature approved a law in fall 2024 that categorized home caretakers as government employees.

Medicaid, a state-federal program, pays caregivers who tend to those who cannot fully care for themselves — often their relatives.

Henry signed the document that union representatives presented to her, and now she regrets it. She would like to revoke her decision but says she may have a hard time removing her name from the list.

Henry was surprised to learn that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services gave the union a list of people like her, along with their contact information.

Henry, who takes care of her 34-year-old daughter, was approached by union representatives as she left her home and asked for her signature. She quickly read the information on a phone and signed her name.

The union representative then walked to her vehicle but then returned to Henry, saying her signature did not go through. Would she sign it again, the representative asked. This time, Henry refused. She wanted to review the text but did not have time to read through it again.

Henry told CapCon that the union representative, who identified herself as Teniesha in a follow-up text later, became irritated over her refusal. Henry later received a text message later from the union representative, which said her signature had gone through.

Henry responded to the text message and asked for the original language of what she signed.

“Hope all is well I no longer have access to the material, however someone there local can retrieve it and contact you with it if they don’t provide me with it,” said Teniesha in the text, according to Henry.

The union representative asked Henry why she wanted a copy of the document she signed and offered to send a pamphlet, which, Henry told CapCon, she had already received.

In a separate text message, the union representative told Henry she was no longer in the area. She gave Henry another number to call.

Henry left a message with that number, but so far, has not received a response. She still has not read the language she agreed to.

Henry is concerned that she will now automatically be enrolled in the union if it has enough votes to unionize.

CapCon reached out to the union to ask for a copy of the language it has been circulating. The union has not responded.

A person who doesn’t want to be represented by a union should not sign any union petition, Steve Delie, labor policy director at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, told CapCon.

Delie added that a person who opposes a union’s effort to organize a group of people should vote no rather than abstain from voting.

For Michiganders who have already signed the union’s petition and want their name off the list, please go to this link. The Mackinac Center has a letter they can use to request removal from the list.

Between 2007 and 2012, home-based caregivers who received Medicaid payments were classified as public employees, and a union received dues from them. Many of those individuals did not know they were in a union, let alone that they were in it and paying dues.

The Mackinac Center successfully fought to ensure the practice became unlawful, which occurred in 2012.

The union took $34 million from the paychecks of home health care providers over seven years.

The union says it can bargain for better pay or benefits, but only the Legislature approves the pay rate.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s 2026 budget recommendation asks for $7 million for a home health caregiver council. Caregivers like Henry wouldn’t receive any of that money.