As Michigan’s right-to-work legislation heads back for a final vote on Tuesday, unions and legislative opponents of the law say that the battle is not over—even if there’s not much they can do to stop the bill from passing.
The bills, separate versions of which were passed last week in the house and senate, are sitting through a five-day waiting period before they can be reconciled.
Democratic Dearborn Sen. Morris Hood said that the expectation in Lansing is that the Senate-approved versions of the bills will go over to the house for approval on Tuesday.
“At this point, (senators) don’t have a large course of action in which we can do besides continue to lobby on behalf of our contingent and still have a process before it goes to the house,” he said Friday. “There is some time for things to be done, but we don’t know to what level it will be received.”
Hood urged residents to continue to fight to be part of the legislative process.
Dearborn UAW Local 600 members are taking that message to heart.
According to the Detroit Free Press, Local 600 hosted a training for hundreds of union members Saturday aimed at educating them about constructive ways to protest.
President Bernie Ricke said Friday that their chapter had more than 100 members protesting at the Capitol on Thursday, and are planning an even bigger outcry on Tuesday.
“It’s a very important issue to us, but we knew it has been on the back burner for some time,” he said, adding that union members mobilized quickly once they heard that right-to-work was being pushed through and would be signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder.
Snyder announced his support for the legislation—which would essentially prohibit the requirement of a worker to pay union dues as a condition of employment—on Thursday. In a Pure Michigan ad published on YouTube, he says his decision to pursue such legislation is "about being pro-work and giving workers the freedom to choose who they associate with."
By 8 p.m. that evening, the house and the senate had approved separate right-to-work bills. Votes fell mostly along party lines, with heavy GOP support.
A protest raged on all day Thursday at the Capitol, where an estimated 2,500 union members and supporters from all across the state rallied against right-to-work.
“I think you’re going to see a lot more people on Tuesday than you did this week,” Ricke predicted.
He added that unions felt that the sudden push for the bills—which had been stalled since 2011—was a planned-out tactic, and that unions hope to see it challenged.
“I believe there will be some legal challenges because of the way they did it,” he said. “I’m sure (legislators) are looking at a lot of options, because it definitely wasn’t done democratically.
“We’ll move forward and do whatever we can to repeal it.”
According to the Detroit Free Press, a union activist out of Highland Park has already filed a lawsuit over right-to-work, stating that legislators violated the Open Meetings Act by barring protesters from the Capitol for a brief period on Thursday.
Sen. Hood could not confirm that the course of action by senate and house Democrats would be to put up a legal challenge if the bills are passed.
“I haven’t been in conversations … but that’s not to say that’s not a discussion,” he said, adding that a legal challenge would likely be something decided upon by Democratic minority leaders in the house and senate.
Hood’s focus right now—like union members—is to fight until Snyder’s signature is on the paper.
“It’s not over until its over,” Hood said. “The governor has not signed it into law, so I still am having hope … that there’s still some small chance that it could happen. So we’ll still keep shooting for that.”
UAW local chapters from around Dearborn and the downriver area will be sending a number of busses to Lansing on Tuesday for the rally. For more information, see the contact sheet attached to this article.
Or, maybe someday industry will pay decent wages and benefits out the kindness of their big hearts?
Michigan has lost its competitive edge largely because of high taxes, yet Gov. Snyder wants even higher taxes. I want to help him out and am doing just that by getting him to come into my website and learn how to fill up the trains and buses without raising new taxes. It’s Wal-Mart and other large employers who should do more to help pay for the bus fares to transport Detroit workers to their jobs and not new countywide tax increases, if we ever want to bring back Michigan’s economy to compete in the Worldwide market.
Also, the UAW has benefits with Obamacare that most of us do not have. How so? Massive subsidies given by Obama and the US govt. to offset what UAW members would otherwise have to pay, like the rest of us , to afford Obamacare. Read here for more info. http://nlpc.org/stories/2011/04/06/uaw-and-gm-benefit-covert-bailout It's easy to support Obamacare and the UAW when the govt is paying the bill for you. I would join the UAW tomorrow and get my healthcare free, who wouldn't? Of course, if you are a taxpayer, paying for the UAW free ride, you may be unhappy, but , as they say, "suck it up". Obama and the UAW watch each other's backs, at the taxpayer's expense. Bet you won't hear a peep from the UAW about this aspect when Obama visits Detroit Diesel Monday. Nor a response to Ben's question, What is the UAW fearing about workers not choosing to join the UAW with the recent law passed giving workers a choice?
Since you can no longer claim that a law duly enacted by democratically elected legislators is "undemocratic", I see you are reverting to try to blame it on some kind of boogeyman conspiracy between a democratically elected governor and some businessmen. Where's your proof? Your are also full ob beans when you try to inflame people about "taxation without representation". Apparently you don't even know the meaning of that phrase. You may not like the taxation -- I don't either -- but it is not without representation. What to you think democratically elected state legislators are anyway? "Taxation without representation" comes about through un-democratic imposition of taxes from unelected officials like Kings and dictators.
Compare for yourself at this site. http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/retiree_map/ Actually, compared to a lot of other states, such as Colorado, we are on easy street with respect to retiree taxes. Better by a long shot, all Snyder did was even the playing field somewhat, now we are only better than 40 other states instead of 45.
And Charles... these RTW bills were ram-rodded through WITHOUT A HEARING. DeVos's 2008 campaign manager drafted the bills, they were discharged out of committee WITHOUT DISCUSSION from Dems or Repubs or citizens, voted through second reading WITHOUT AMENDMENTS BEING HEARD OR VOTED ON before it was passed by a LAME DUCK legislature. No matter what side of the arguement you are on, this is a very important piece of legislation that should have been thoroughly examined and discussed before it was jammed through, as it was.
It is up to the MI Chamber and the UAW and other unions, to prove their worth. I am not forced to join the MI Chamber of Commerce in order to conduct business. A worker should not be forced to join a union in order to conduct his job. Do you like to be forced? The union can still bargain, collect dues, etc, nothing changed there. It's just that the Union is upset that their monopoly is gone, that dues are not auto deducted, they don't like the fact of fairness happening so fast.
If you like higher taxes on your car license, higher income and sales taxes, bus service reductions, tax breaks for the trucking industries and large retail stores, and low low wages with no benefits and more jobs moving to Mexicao the Gov. Synder is your man. Wow, what a great guy. I'm sure he will support the SMART property tax renewal next August 2014. And why not? It's more money to support the Republican dream of a 2 class society of extremely rich and poor people with no middle class. Y'all voters are stupid if ya think raisiing taxes in Michigan will bring back good paying jobs. it will never happen until our government is cleaned up. The cleaning should start from the top down, not by taking more from the poor.
Man, is your head screwed on backwards , or what! First, jobs are not "chased away" by "slashing" benefits to the poor and handicapped. What do poor and handicapped benefits have to do with job creation. More likely jobs disappear because employers disappear, and employers disappear because the cost of running the business becomes higher than the revenue received by selling its products and services. Government benefits to the poor have nothing to do with it other than the cost of those benefits comes from tax money that comes form businesses. If you want MORE benefits for the poor and handicapped, then you DO want more taxes. So why are you upset about higher taxes on you card license, etc.? That's seems to be EXACTLY what you want. What we DON'T want is more taxpayer money going to people who don't produce. As one Texas lawmaker once said: "We don't have much welfare down here because we don't pay for it. You get what you pay for." If you want a lot of unemployed and unemployable people hanging around like flies, then by all means, have the taxpayers fund generous benefits for doing nothing. If, on the other hand, you want to put them to work to earn their own living, then cut the taxes and restrictions and restraints on the businesses that would employ them.
Snyder took us from nearly the worst state to do business in , to the 5th best, and has leveled the playing field. He reduced Granholm's billion dollar debt to a surplus. We are getting a bridge almost free, the Canadians are paying for it, not Michigan, and now, with the right to work bill, and our smart work force, companies will flock to Michigan to build parts, and forget Indiana. That means good paying jobs Harold, and that means you can afford higher taxes, and perhaps may even become one of the 'rich' folk that you seem to despise. Keep in mind that over half the folk don't even pay Federal taxes, and the so called rich are footing 77% of the tax bill. Now is that fair? Whether they can afford it or not is immaterial. Any of us can be rich if we want to, most would rather cheer on the Lions. Hmmm
I think our country will be in serious economic trouble if we don't all work together to help out our neighbors and everyone else and put God first. So, thanks very much for posting your thoughts on my comment. .
It's time for right-to-work.