Right-To-Work Bill Passes in Michigan

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Michigan House passes portion of right-to-work legislation

Thousands rally in Lansing for, against legislation


Published On: Dec 10 2012 10:50:40 PM EST Updated On: Dec 11 2012 12:09:17 PM EST

LANSING, Mich. -
The Michigan House of Representatives has approved House Bill 4003, which covers government unions. Final vote was 58-51.

The plan is to start taking up SB 116 (private unions) is still pending.

Gov. Rick Snyder has pledged to sign the bills and make Michigan the 24th right-to-work state.

Crowds of protesters are shouting slogans such as "No Justice, no peace" and "Hey hey, ho ho, right to work has got to go." The hallways and rotunda area are protected by dozens of state police armed with riot clubs...

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/...on/-/1719418/17726720/-/13jk35gz/-/index.html
 
Michigan Legislature sends governor right-to-work

By JOHN FLESHER and JEFF KAROUB, AP
11 minutes ago

LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Legislature gave final approval Tuesday to a bitterly contested right-to-work plan limiting the power of unions, a devastating and once unthinkable defeat for organized labor in a state considered a cradle of the movement.

Unswayed by Democrats' pleas and thousands of protesters inside and outside the state Capitol, the House approved two final bills, sending them on to Republican Gov. Rick Snyder. One dealt with public sector workers, the other with government employees. Both measures cleared the Senate last week.

Snyder is expected to sign them into law as early as Wednesday...

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20121209/US.Right.to.Work.Michigan/
 
Now Michigan workers will have the right to work for less so the top 1% can have an even bigger slice of the economic pie.
 
Now Michigan workers will have the right to work for less so the top 1% can have an even bigger slice of the economic pie.

Being robbed by the Unions hasn't worked out so well for Michigan, now has it?


JMO and all that jazz.
 
Being robbed by the Unions hasn't worked out so well for Michigan, now has it?


JMO and all that jazz.

Or you could blame badly managed companies (including their overpaid execs), and less regulation on shipping manufacturing to other countries.

No union workers were getting rich in Michigan. A lot of the 1% did, though.
 
Or you could blame badly managed companies (including their overpaid execs), and less regulation on shipping manufacturing to other countries.

No union workers were getting rich in Michigan. A lot of the 1% did, though.

Because all of the jobs have LEFT Michigan. Every 3rd one of my neighbors is from MI!

As a matter of fact, the man I'm marrying on Saturday moved here from MI 4 years ago because the economy was so bad there.
 
I don't necessarily think unions are a bad thing, but how they are run currently is bad. The unions have too much power. I specifically dislike the teachers union because it protects bad teachers.

I also agree that right to work means the right to work for less money which is ultimately going to make industry happy and workers miserable, but what is the answer?

The answer is the unions should have reorganized themselves. They didn't, and so now they suffer the consequences of their own inaction.
 
I don't necessarily think unions are a bad thing, but how they are run currently is bad. The unions have too much power. I specifically dislike the teachers union because it protects bad teachers.

I also agree that right to work means the right to work for less money which is ultimately going to make industry happy and workers miserable, but what is the answer?

The answer is the unions should have reorganized themselves. They didn't, and so now they suffer the consequences of their own inaction.


I agree. Especially about the Teachers Union. TX is a 'Right to Work' state and the economy is pretty good here. We have tons of people that have fled from the bad economies up north.

RTW doesn't mean there are no unions here...of course there are unions, they just can't force the employees to do/support things they don't want.
 
I agree. Especially about the Teachers Union. TX is a 'Right to Work' state and the economy is pretty good here. We have tons of people that have fled from the bad economies up north.

RTW doesn't mean there are no unions here...of course there are unions, they just can't force the employees to do/support things they don't want.

Unions lobby politicians on behalf of their members. Corporations lobby politicians on behalf of corporate executives. Often supporting causes directly against the interests of their shareholders, workers and customers.
 
I think it's a good thing.

The employee now has a choice - they can join a union if they want, but it's not mandatory. They can pay dues if they want, but if the union supports causes that the employee doesn't believe in, he/she has a choice.

In the early 1990's, I was a HR Manager for an industry leader. The shop employees were covered by a SEIU Local. They had been covered by the SEIU Local for almost 20 years. The management team treated the employees well, and it ultimately paid off. Basically, they had their medical and pension benefits through the union. They WANTED (asked during 2 rounds of contract negotiations) to join the Company's 401(k) Plan that the non-union employees had. The 401(k) Plan wouldn't allow union members. The union members ended up taking a great leap of faith and decertified from the SEIU.

***ETA: Our company expanded and opened a larger facility in a different state. The Teamsters tried 3 times to get the employees to unionize, went to voting 3 times. All 3 times the employees elected to remain non-union. Again, I think that speaks highly of the company itself, as well as other things.

There are companies out there that do treat employees well. It's not a given that all companies are bad.

Mr DD is a fire fighter. The stories I could tell you of the coworkers that have had union representation of employees that no other coworkers wanted to work with, etc. If an employee makes stupid, stupid life choices or work choices, sometimes the coworkers don't believe the stupid employee deserves to keep their job. But alas, they can tie it up in lawsuits, etc. that cost the employing agency hundreds of thousands of dollars. So yes, union representation can be a good thing at times, but there are assinine situations, as well. As Mr. DD said, the reason he is a FF union member is because if he gets hurt, the Local can vote to continue to pay the sick/injured employee for up to a year. He'll tell you that's the only reason he remains a member. //// I could join several different federal employee unions, but never have.

I guess all those MI union members protesting will continue to belong to the union, and will be happy. Now, a few (?) that hated mandatory union membership won't have to.

I think the Union leaders have to be more service-oriented to RTW areas, to show the employees that the benefits of belonging outweigh the dues/fees and personal dislike of any union activities, etc. That can be a good thing for union members in the long run. Union leaders may also have to amend some of their high and mighty spending, if their membership rolls are decreasing. They have room for some cost cutting :)

Again, I think the choice is a good thing.

JMO
 
I really don't see why union members are protesting right to work laws when their real problem is that both political parties are totally enamered of free trade, and subscribe to a vision of a one world economy wherein corporations are free to manufacture goods anywhere in the world they can find sweatshop workers to do it.

Right to work isn't the real enemy. Listen, and you can hear the giant sucking sound of jobs going overseas. Can unions prevent that? No.
 
I am a State of Minn employee and as such am required to join AFSCME. I work at a college and we have several different unions here. My union really offers us nothing. We have a wage scale and I have been at the top for 7 years now - that means I have not had a raise in 7 years except two 1.5% cost of living increases. I work 8 hours a day with a half-hour unpaid lunch break. If my job is eliminated I get a two week layoff notice and I am out of here. There are no benefits after termination. We do not have continuing health coverage. Our pension is a matching type program. I am a library assistant, make $19.00/hour and have been here 23 years. When I leave I have no health insurance. My gross pay is $40,000 annually -- I take home $24,000 after all the deductions.

The faculty here have their own union - much stronger than mine. They receive a ONE YEAR layoff notice with the right to retrain into another discipline and that retraining is paid for by the college. They are required by their union contract to work 6.5 hours per day. They are able to take sabbaticals where they are still paid part of their wage and the college must hire a replacement faculty person to teach their courses. They are paid overload for anything extra they do -- and believe me they demand it. I have heard them talk and they will not do anything extra without being paid extra.

The administrators have another union. Most of them make in excess of $80,000 annually. I don't have info on their contract as they are very secretive.

The difference between the faculty and my union members is astronomical. My group consists of office type workers. The faculty say they 'should' be paid for their education - that they 'deserve' to be paid for their education. They do not ever speak of being paid on the merits of their classroom skills or student performance. If Minn were to become a 'right to work' state it is that union that would be kicking and screaming because they have the most to lose.

We also have mining here and those people are unionized (steelworkers union). They can work overtime whenever and however much they want. If on overtime the company pays for their meals. They are allowed one hour at the end of their shift to clean up (shower) and do laundry. They receiving signing bonuses when the contracts are renewed. Many of them sleep for most of their shift. In Minn we have so many safety laws and rules with OSHA and MSHA that the union for safety purposes is irrelevant. I personally know of people who refuse to do certain tasks because it is 'NOT THEIR JOB' according to union contract. I also know of people who ***** and gripe that someone else did something that was their JOB according to contract. It is ridiculous really to call an electrician in the mine to change a light bulb.
 

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