Michigan nanny-union case sent back to lower court

9/17/2010

LANSING — The Michigan Supreme Court wants a lower court to explain why it dismissed a lawsuit challenging the unionization of 40,000 at-home child-care workers.

It sent the case back Thursday to the state appeals court, which had ruled against three women with a six-word sentence in December. The women are suing the state Department of Human Services, saying the union, a partnership between the United Auto Workers and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is illegal because child-care providers are not public employees.

The union gets a slice of the millions in state subsidies paid to providers who watch children from low-income families.