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Snyder to consider deregulation of 18 industries
It appears teabaggers and other extremist Republicans have been emboldened with the rash of anti-worker and anti-middle class bills that has passed the Legislature since January – from so-called teacher tenure to the unconstitutional Emergency Financial Manager (EFM) law – and based on that success against democracy they are launching the ultimate attack on the middle class, right to work for less.
A Teabagger group financed by corporate cash, probably including Koch money, called “Michigan Freedom to Work” launched a push to bust unions on Thursday with press conferences in Lansing, Grand Rapids, Traverse City, Escanaba, Detroit and Flint. When I first heard about this attack on the middle class, I thought they were going to roll out a petition drive like they attempted back in 2008.
For months in 2007 and 2008 there had been rumors of a push by conservative groups and individuals from out of state to make Michigan a RTWFL state by collecting signatures for a citizen initiative. Labor trained thousands of petition blockers – including me – to stand with petition takes to give out the truth, but the threatened petition drive never materialized. The plan was to collect signatures at the polls during the presidential primary, but they never showed up after they realized people are smatter than they think and do not support this assault on the middle class.
Proponents of RTWFL claim the law would do away with the requirement that workers must be in a union to be employed at a union shop. However, federal law already protects workers who don’t want to join a union to get or keep their jobs, and the law gives workers the right to opt out of a union. But they must still pay union dues. RTWFL would give them the option of not paying dues while still enjoying the benefits of being in a union. What it will do is kill the union, and that’s what this is all about.
Apparently, the plan is to push it through the Legislature. There are currently no bills pending, and bills in the past have failed to move. In fact, one of the extremists who had a bill pending back in 2007 is part of this group, former Rep. Jacob Hoogendyk, R-Kalamazoo. It appears teabaggers Sen. Pat Colbeck, R-Canton, and Rep. Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, will introduce the bills, and just to add insult to injury, they plan to introduce them near Labor Day, a day to celebrate the contribution and sacrifices of organized labor. However, Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, was quick to point out when the news of this attack broke that Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, has stated his opposition to RTWFL in campaign questionnaires.
A few of the teabaggers behind this assault on the middle class appear to be disgruntled union members, and they are claiming they are forced union members and are trying to paint this as a freedom issue.
Nothing could be further from the truth. There is nothing more democratic in the workplace than a union, and that’s one reason they hate unions. Unions must be voted in by a majority of workers and the leaders are elected by a majority. It’s no different than me trying to claim I’m forced to pay taxes without representation because I did not vote for this governor or the Senator representing me in the 22nd Senate District and the 47th House District.
It’s telling that the teabaggers were hugely outnumbered at the press conference in Lansing. According to the Detroit Free Press, at the state Capitol the RTWFL supporters were met by more than 100 union supporters quietly handed out lit refuting the RTWFL lies, such as the false claim that there are higher wages in the 22 RTWFL states.
One talking point RTWFL proponents are pushing is the claim that two-thirds of states with right to work for less laws have higher per-capita incomes than Michigan. That may be true because one of the goals and why corporate money is sponsoring this attack is to break unions to drive the cost of labor down. However, wage earners in the 22 right to work for less states make an average of $5,900 less in annual salary, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s no accident that the middle class is dying.
If Teabaggers, corporations and Republicans get their way and his passes, the middle class will be dead for good.
Minor quibble in an otherwise spot-on blog entry: “Emergency FINANCIAL Managers” no longer exist. P.A. 4 renames them “Emergency Managers”. There is an important and insidious reason for this and I’ll have a blog up about it in the next few days.
Great post. Thanks so much.
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[...] in court by the union was launched last week by extremist Republicans falsely calling the effort, “Michigan Freedom to Work.” Gillman is part of that [...]
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[...] This group held a press conference in the Capitol on July 1, and Day was a part of it. However, nowhere in any news reports of the press conference the Mackinac Center held on Thursday does it mention that Day is a part of that group. In fact, the Mackinac Center released a YouTube video disguised as a real, legitimate news report featuring Day. However, nowhere does it say that Day, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, is part of that group. [...]
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[...] Education Committee. Additionally, this summer a teabagger group financed by corporate cash called “Michigan Freedom to Work” launched a campaign to make Michigan a right to work for less state. But it appears Senate [...]
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[...] summerwhen a Teabagger group financed by corporate cash, probably including Koch money, called “Michigan Freedom to Work” launched a push to bust unions by pushing RTWFL. Teabagger Republicans Sen. Pat Colbeck, [...]
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