Make your voice heard at the Capitol Wednesday

Some 10,000 people will be in Lansing on Wednesday April 13 to protect the working poor and middle class at the We Are the People Rally.

The rally is being organized by the Michigan State AFL-CIO, AFSME and Working Michigan. To accommodate working people who work different shifts, it will run from 1-6 p.m., and because of that, new people will be arriving all day. Last month more than 5,000 were at the Capitol for the “Storm the Capitol” rally. The numbers were actually more than that because, like what will be happening Wednesday, people were coming and going all day.

Various labor groups are also sponsoring buses, and that information can be found on the Facebook event page. The union-busting attempts by the Republicans have rallied people to the side of labor. In fact, polls are showing that Americans strongly oppose efforts to strip unionized government workers of their rights to collectively bargain.

Because of that over-reach, many non-union people have joined the protests all over the country, so to help those people get to the rally, plus gas approaching $4 a gallon, a page has been set up for people who want to car pool or share a ride.

There are also some interesting committee meetings they can take in while they are in the Capitol, and all committee meeting are open to the public and citizens can speak.

The House Education Committee is meeting at 9 a.m. in Room 519 of the House Office Building (HOB), 121 N. Capitol, across from the Capitol, and the subject of the hearing is an overview of teacher tenure in the State of Michigan.

The Senate Appropriations Sub-Committee on Higher Education is meeting at 12:30 p.m. in the Senate Appropriations Room on the 3rd Floor of Capitol Building. The committee will be discussing the Higher Education Budget, as well as the popular MSU Cooperative Extension Service program.

The Appropriations Sub-Committee on K-12 public education funding is meeting at 11 a.m. or right after the Senate session in the Senate Appropriations Room on the 3rd Floor of Capitol Building. Testimony will be held on the School Aid budget.

The right has to stoop to imposters to try and paint unions as violent

The right is spinning out of control trying to paint your neighbors, friends and relatives as “union thugs” simply because they are standing up for their civil right of collective bargaining.

The massive crowds protesting the right's assault on public sector unions have been peaceful, and it is driving the right crazy that no one is buying their lie that they are violent. The leading rightwing blog in Michigan is going berserk trying to portray firefighters, police officers and teachers as “animals. In fact, a few Michigan teabaggers have been at the protests trying to provoke a confrontation so they can get it on tap to try and make the claim that they are violent. Kind of like what went on from the regime in Egypt.

It has been driving them crazy that they have not been able to elicit a violent response, so now they are trying to plant imposters to incite a riot. Extremist Republican Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin said he considered planting some “troublemakers” into the huge crowd of pro-worker protestors that have flooded into Madison. The only thing that stopped him was that he was afraid it might force him to bow to the majority of people who support collective bargaining rights, not that it would endanger people.

But Walker and teabagger Republican Grand Traverse County Commissioner Jason Gillman are not the only Republicans who feel that way.

Republican Johnson County, Indiana deputy prosecutor Carlos Lam resigned last week after the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism traced an e-mail he sent to Walker urging him to fake an attack to make it look like the pro-union protested had did it to in order for Walker to gain sympathy.

The e-mail was one of the tens of thousands of e-mails released in an open-records settlement the Walker administration reached with a local paper and the Associated Press after Walker lied and said he had thousands of emails supporting his union busting attempt.

“I've been involved in GOP politics here in Indiana for 18 years, and I think that the situation in WI presents a good opportunity for what's called a "false flag" operation,” Lam wrote. “ If you could employ an associate who pretends to be sympathetic to the unions' cause to physically attack you (or even use a firearm against you), you could discredit the public unions.”

When confronted with the evidence, Lam initially lied and said he had not sent the e-mail, claiming that he had been the victim of identity theft before he confessed.

This is not the first Indiana Republican thug to lose his job for advocating violence against peaceful, working class citizens. Indiana Deputy Attorney General Jeff Cox lost his job after tweeting that the protesters should be dealt with using “live ammunition,” following that up with “against thugs physically threatening legally-elected state legislators & governor? You’re damn right I advocate deadly force.”

Tell me again who the thugs are?

Some idiot over at the Detroit News even went so far as to compare working people that are our friends, neighbors and family with the murderous, Detroit prohibition-era Purple Gang because they support those who support them. If you want to know why newspapers are barely surviving, you just need to know that this guy is what passes as an editor today.

This idiot named Jeffrey Hadden is comparing a legal boycott with murder and vandalism.

Please.

Anniversary of MLK assentation also a day to show support for collective bargaining

Organized labor has long marked the anniversary of the senseless assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King on April 4 1968 in Memphis, Tenn. Because he long recognized collective bargaining as a civil right and risked his life to protect it, but this year the anniversary has special meaning with the all-out attempt by Republicans to roll back that important civil right.

Beginning with worship services on Sunday, and continuing through the week of April 4,unions, people of faith, civil and human rights activists, students and other progressive allies from all over the country will host a range of community and workplace focused actions, from a teach in at the University of Michigan to a vigil at 6 p.m. today on the Capitol steps in Lansing.

The respected and revered civil rights leader who preached non-violence and civil disobedience to further civil rights was gunned down on a motel balcony, shot in the neck as he was preparing to lead a march of sanitation workers in that southern city protesting against low wages and poor working conditions. The workers had been granted a charter by AFSCME in 1964, but the city refused to recognize it.

King had long supported the civil right of collective bargaining, like his 1961 quote about right to work for less were he linked collective bargaining to civil rights, saying, “"In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as 'right to work.' It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights."

Working condition had gotten worse for the sanitation workers with the election of a new mayor in Memphis in 1968. He had refused to take dilapidated trucks out of service or pay overtime when men were forced to work late-night shifts. Sanitation workers earned wages so low that many were on welfare and hundreds relied on food stamps to feed their families, according to the King Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. That is currently the direction we are heading today.

On Feb. 11 more than 700 men attended a union meeting and unanimously decided to strike. The strike might have ended a few weeks later on Feb. 22, when the City Council, pressured by a sit-in of sanitation workers and their supporters, voted to recognize the union and recommended a wage increase, but Mayor Henry Loeb rejected the Council’s vote, claiming that only he had the authority to recognize the union and refused to do so.

The following day, after police used mace and tear gas against nonviolent demonstrators marching to City Hall, Memphis’s black community was galvanized. Meeting in a church basement on Feb. 24, 150 local ministers formed Community on the Move for Equality (COME), under the leadership of King’s longtime ally, local minister James Lawson. COME committed to the use nonviolent civil disobedience to fill Memphis’s jails and bring attention to the plight of the sanitation workers. By the beginning of March, local high school and college students, nearly a quarter of them white, were participating alongside garbage workers in daily marches; and over one hundred people, including several ministers, had been arrested.

King arrived in Memphis on April 3, 1968 to support the workers, and he was persuaded to speak by a crowd of dedicated sanitation workers who had braved another storm to hear him. A weary King preached about his own mortality with the speech that has become famous, telling the group, “Like anybody, I would like to live a long life--longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now… I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.”

The following evening, as King was getting ready for dinner, he was shot and killed on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel. The struggle did not end with the murder of King, and on April 16 a deal was reached that allowed the City Council to recognize the union and guaranteeing a better wage.

Go to the official “We are One” web site, and you can just type in your zip code to find an event near you.

Senate Democrats move to protect civil rights

LANSING – Senate Democrats heeded the voices of the more than 5,000 working people who jammed the Capitol on Wednesday, and on Thursday they introduced Senate Joint Resolution I that would amend Michigan’s Constitution to guarantee every worker the right to organize and collectively bargain.

The Resolution was sponsored by Senate Democratic Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, and it was co-sponsored by the entire Senate Democratic Caucus. The simple resolution reads as follows:

“Sec. 28. Every person shall have the right to form, join, or assist labor organizations and to bargain collectively through representatives chosen by the members of the labor organizations as to wages, benefits, and conditions of employment.”

The Republican-controlled Legislature has intruded a raft of anti-worker and anti-union bills, 40 to date, such as the radical anti-union and anti-Democratic Emergency Financial Managers (EFM) package of bills that were signed into law by Gov. Rick Snyder, R-Ann Arbor. But, because Synder has said publicly, on the rare times he can be pinned down to a straight answer, that he does not want to bust unions, Senate Democrats hope he will support the amendment.

“Governor Snyder likes to talk about supporting the collective bargaining process, yet pushes through legislation that will strip away those rights away from Michigan’s workers one piece at a time,” said Sen. Bert Johnson, D -Detroit. “The thousands of workers that came to Lansing yesterday to voice their concerns deserve a clear answer from him on this issue.”

In fact, on Thursday a spokesperson for Snyder said that he has no intentions of getting rid of collective bargaining, and Whitmer said if that is truly the case, then Snyder should have no problem protecting that right within the state constitution.

“This amendment isn’t complex policy requiring weeks of review, it is one sentence that guarantees a fundamental right to our workers,” Whitmer said. “It’s time for the Governor to move past the carefully crafted talking points and tell us where he really stands on this.”

It’s obvious the GOP-controlled Senate has no intention of moving it because it was referred to the Committee on Government Operations, the place where bills go to die in committee. There are only two other items in that committee that never meets, and they are both sponsored by Democrats; one to creating an independent redistricting commission and the other to require a fiscal impact of every bill.

Barring the governor’s support and the Republics leadership in the House and Senate listening to the Governor to give it the required two-thirds approval, it will take a petition drive. Judging by the enthusiastic crowds in the Capitol the last couple of days, it will not be hard to get the more than 322,000 signatures to place it on the ballot.

The public does not support GOP union busting

Despite an all out war on collective bargaining and unions by Republicans like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the public is simply not buying it.

A CBS/NYT poll released today shows a majority of people have a favorable opinion of unions. Public employees and their unions have been the biggest target of Republicans since the November election, and they are being blamed for municipalities teetering on the brink of bankruptcy despite the fact that Wall Street helped create the deepest and longest recession since the Great Depression.

Like in Wisconsin ad Michigan, public employees have given back wages and benefits to help balance state budgets while Wall Street bankers get huge bonuses, but what Republicans really want to do is take away their civil right of collective bargaining. But, again, people are not buying into that myth that public employees are making too much money and getting too many benefits.

The poll found the majority, 36 percent, say their compensation is about right, and a majority opposes cutting their pay and benefits to balance state budgets. A majority also oppose what Walker is trying to do in Wisconsin, and 38 percent oppose limiting collective bargaining.

With the tide turning against him, Walker has taken more tyrannical measures, locking the public out of their state capitol.

Michigan Republican’s war on the middle class and labor is priority one

The Michigan Republican’s war on the middle class and labor continues to go at top speed with complete disregard for the consequences.

Less than two weeks after introducing bills in the Michigan House that will repeal Public Act 312 of 1969 that allows binding arbitration of labor disputes for municipal police and fire departments, the bills, House Bills 4205 and 4206, are already headed to committee for action. It is rare that legislation moves that quickly.

Because police officers and firefighters are essential to public safety, they are not allowed to go out on strike like other bargaining units can, so this gives them a tool in negotiating a contract. PA 312 is the foundation of collective bargaining rights for firefighters and police officers in Michigan, and since 1969 PA 312 has provided a fair and equitable process for contract disputes between firefighters and police officers and municipalities.

It is rarely even used and when it is the local municipalities win 71 percent of the time, yet Republicans try to blame the financial difficulties municipalities are facing on PA 312 while ignoring the fact that revenue sharing payments from Lansing have been cut and property values are falling.

They are setting up a trap to first bust public service unions then they will go after private unions. However, they are being stealthier about it instead of being more open like they are in Wisconsin and Ohio, fearing the backlash from working Michiganders.

The new budget proposal introduced yesterday cuts revenue sharing payments and aid to public schools by $420 per pupil, sending many municipalities and school districts into insolvency, and they are expanding the law for emergency financial manger and giving them more power.

The EFM law already takes the power and authority out of the hands of the people legally elected by the voters and places it in the hands of a person appointed by the governor and the Legislature. The new bills will make it easier to appoint an EFM with several more triggers, and the bill also gives the EFM much more broader powers, such as allowing the manger to terminate contracts negotiated with labor unions in good faith.

This is just one more union-busting measure, and if there are less police officers on the streets and firefighters ready to respond, Republicans think it’s worth it as long as they bust the union.

Yesterday Senate Republicans introduced Senate Bill 165 that will kill the prevailing wage law that calls for union wages to be paid on public projects. The bill was sponsored by Sen. John Moolenaar, R-Midland, but it is co-sponsored by 20 of the 26 Senate Republicans.

HBs 4205-4206 that will kill PA 312 will be before the House Committee on Government Operations at noon on Wednesday Feb. 23 in room 327 of the House Office Building, 121 N. Capitol in Lansing. The meeting, like all committee meetings, is open to the public.

White Shirt Day marks the historic Flint Sit-down strike

Working people all over Michigan will be wearing white shirts on Friday to mark an anniversary of a courageous event that helped create the middle class and gave workers of all stripes and occupation across the U.S. dignity and a safer place to work.

White Shirt Day marks the historic Flint Sit-down strike, the first of a series of sit-down strikes against General Motors at Fisher Body Plant No. 1 in Flint. The goals of the striker were to earn recognition for the fledging United Auto Workers as the sole bargaining agent for GM workers, and to make the company stop shipping work to plants with nonunion workers.

On Nov. 18, 1936, the UAW struck a Fisher Body plant in Altanta. On Dec. 16, they hit two GM plants in Kansas City, and on Dec. 28, a Fisher stamping plant in Cleveland. Two days later they struck Fisher Body No. 1 in Flint. Within two weeks, approximately 135,000 men from plants in 35 cities in 14 states were striking General Motors. The strike lasted 44 days and became the first of many union victories, but the brave workers had to endure the possible loss of a job during the height of the Great Depression just for uttering the word “union,” cold, a lack of food, tear gas, attacks by police and the threat of attack from the National Guard to win their dignity.

White Shirt Day was first celebrated on Feb. 11, 1948 based on a suggestion from UAW Local 598 member Bert Christenson. He wanted a way to honor the men and women who participated in the 1937 sit-down strike, and the idea took hold. White shirts are worn to work on the anniversary of the end of the strike. This action was intended to send a message to management that "blue collar" workers had earned the right to the same respect as their management counterparts.

GOP gubernatorial candidate using right to work for less as campaign ad

Republicans have long tried to kill labor unions and take away worker’s rights, and that is what the so-called “Right to Work” push is all about. Now, Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Bouchard is using it as a campaign strategy to cater to the fringe that controls the GOP. The problem is she is lying about it.

The fact is conservative groups and individuals from both out of state and in Michigan have been pushing right to work for less as a way to end collective bargaining, drive wages down, kill unions and kill what’s left of shrinking middle class. That’s something respect leaders have known for some 40 years.

Proponents of right to work for less 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 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.

Unions in RTWFL states are required by law to defend non-dues-paying members involved in a dispute or charged with a grievance at work, but even those employees do not have to contribute dues. Such a provision does not give workers more rights, but instead it weakens unions and their ability to bargain for improved benefits and working conditions, which is the real intent of RTWFL. The union, by law, must represent all workers equally.

Bouchard has been running a TV ad pushing RTWFL called “Guess,” but the Michigan Truth Squad called him out for outright lying in the ad.

Bouchard claims "Consider this: 22 states have a right-to-work law and their unemployment rate is around 8 percent. Not Michigan's. ("Michigan unemployment 13.6%" appears on the screen.)"

The fact is, According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, June unemployment in the 22 RTWFL states was 8.3 percent. The unemployment rate in the 28 states that require workers at workplaces represented by unions to pay dues was 8.6 percent. That’s a .3 difference. The state with the highest unemployment in the nation, Nevada, with unemployment of 14.2 percent, is also RTWFL state. In New Hampshire, which has union worker laws similar to Michigan, it was 5.9 percent. Not only that, the average per capita income in RTWFL states, according to the 2009 Department of Commerce Bureau of Economic Analysis data was $37,324; in the 32 other states, the average per capita income was $38,917.

Then he says, “"Guess where our jobs are going and our kids with them."

The jobs are going overseas, but the kids are not going to RTWFL states.
“Today eight of the 22 RTWFL states -- Nevada, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee -- have unemployment rates of 10 percent or above. A 2008 survey conducted by Michigan Future Inc. and the state's 15 public universities found that Michigan college graduates who leave here mostly are going to non-RTWFL states. The top five states attracting recent Michigan college graduates were, in order; Illinois, California, New York, Ohio and Texas. Only Texas among those states has a RTWFL law.

But here is most outrageous lie, calculated to get right-wingers off their butts and to vote for him.
"To get a job, workers shouldn't be forced to join unions or have money pulled from their paychecks to fund political action campaigns. That's driving business away."

“In Michigan, campaign finance laws require union members must either write a separate check for a PAC contribution, or provide written annual approval for automatic payroll deductions. It's a felony to force union members to make a contribution to union political causes. It's incorrect to say a union member has to make a political contribution to get a job. And with unionization in Michigan at a historic low of 18.8 percent, it would seem that many workers are finding a job without being "forced to join unions."

The Michigan Truth Squad is a project of the Center for Michigan, a "think-and-do tank” formed by Phil Power, the former owner and publisher of Hometown Newspapers, in 2006. The Truth Squad will promote honesty and integrity in the political campaign season.

Congressional candidate hopes stealth passage of bill silences critics

LANSING -- Election politics is playing a role in Republican efforts to break a new union and circumvent a legal election to form a collective bargaining unit to represent home-based child care workers.

Last year child care workers organized the Child Care Providers Together Michigan (CCPTM) union, a joint venture between United Auto Workers (UAW) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). The Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) certified CCPTM as the sole bargaining unit for all home-based child care providers receiving reimbursement payments from the Michigan Child Development and Care Program. Senate Republicans have tried everything possible to kill the union, making the false claim worked were forcibly unionized.

State Sen. Jason Allen, R-Alanson, has been criticized by conservatives for sponsoring Senate Bill 731 that would have created the Michigan Quality Community Care Council. Anti-union groups like the rightwing think tank Mackinac Center falsely claims it will strengthen the union. The council would simply be responsible for working to preserve consumer selection and self-direction of providers.

Allen is running for the U.S. Congressional seat vacated by U.S. Rep. Bartt Stupak, D-Menominee. Allen has a primary opponent, and his opponent, Dan Benishek, has called on Allen to drop his sponsorship of SB 731.

On Thursday Allen called an early morning meeting of the Committee on Senior Citizens and Veterans Affairs that he chairs and usually meets on Wednesday. The published agenda just said “any business to come properly before the committee.” What the committee did was vote out a substitute for SB 731. No debate was held.

The substitute bill creates something called the Home Help Advisory Council, but it inserts anti-union language that states a “legislative intent that the proposed Act not be interpreted to allow for the unionization of home help workers.”

“Unfortunately, it has become politicized by the forced unionization of home health care workers,” Allen said.

Republicans circumvent legal election to kill union and hurt kids

LANSING – Republicans cannot stop workers from organizing and improving their lot through the legal way with an election, so they went around the election Wednesday with approval of Senate Bill 1158 that provides the budget for the Department of Human Services

The Senate budget calls for de-funding the Home-Based Child Care Council and stop the collection of union dues. You will recall that last year child care workers organized the Child Care Providers Together Michigan (CCPTM) union, a joint venture between United Auto Workers (UAW) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). The Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) certified CCPTM as the sole bargaining unit for all home-based child care providers receiving reimbursement payments from the Michigan Child Development and Care Program.

The Michigan Quality Community Care Council is a standalone public body created by inter-local agreement under the Urban Cooperation Act of 1967 charged with the mission of improving professional development opportunities for home based child care providers, but Republicans like the rightwing think tank Mackinac Center falsely claims it will strengthen the union.

Sen. Gilda Jacobs, D-Huntington Woods, offered one of the best defenses of the union on the Senate floor I have heard since this GOP attack began.

“I stand here today to be somewhat of a truth squad because I think it is important that what has been described as questionable and forced unionization of home-based child care workers is not that at all,” she said. “The fact of the matter is that the union was ratified through an election process that was entirely proper and legal. Ninety-eight percent of the workers who voted in the election voted in favor of unionization. At no point was the validity of that election challenged through the normal procedures provided by our labor laws.”

This is just one more GOP attempt to kill unions and make Michigan a so-called “Right to work state” when the fact is anyone can opt out of the union.

“In any event, no one is forcing workers who do not want to be part of the union to join,” Jacobs said. “Both Michigan and federal law prohibit compulsory union membership. Any employee who wishes can refrain from joining the union by paying a small representation fee.”

Sen. Ray Basham, D-Taylor, a retired Ford autoworker, also defended unions, saying unions are middle-income people and consumers, and when we lose union members the consumers in this country continue to decline.

“So unions have actually been very, very good for Michigan,” he said. “When we had more union people, we were actually above the national average when it came to income, consumers, and people with a good quality of life. I would take umbrage with the Senator from the 29th District when he starts to bash unions.”

The budget narrowly passed with a 20-18 with some Republicans – who usually vote in lockstep - crossing over to vote with the Democrats. The Governor had recommended 527 new child protective services workers to comply with the children's rights lawsuit settlement and the increased caseload, but the Senate approved just 151 new workers. The bill now goes to the House Appropriations Committee.

Senate Republicans continue to attack unions at expense of kids

LANSING -- A hearing of the Senate Appropriations Human Services Subcommittee on Tuesday that sets the budget for the Department of Human Services proved Senate Republicans will do anything to kill unions.

Last year child care workers organized the Child Care Providers Together Michigan (CCPTM) union, a joint venture between United Auto Workers (UAW) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

The Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) certified CCPTM as the sole bargaining unit for all home-based child care providers receiving reimbursement payments from the Michigan Child Development and Care Program, and the contract calls for all in-home providers who care for Department of Human Services subsidy eligible children to pay union dues. Because of that, Sen. Bill Hardiman, R-Kentwood, chair of the appropriations committee, made it clear that at least the Senate version of the budget will be more clear for the coming year: no state funds for the Home-Based Child Care Coordinating Council.

The Michigan Quality Community Care Council, a standalone public body created by inter-local agreement under the Urban Cooperation Act of 1967, is charged with the mission of improving professional development opportunities for home based child care providers.

“I just think it’s wrong, and it’s my intention to present a budget that does not fund the Quality Community Care Council,” he said.

Rev. Larry Simmons, chair of the council, said it has provided value to child care providers and parents, and the council is a group of volunteers from around the state coming together to help a group of people who have been completely ignored for 15 years. He said child care providers have been excited about the training opportunities that have been provided through the council.

“I believe this is the most exploited workers or business owners in the state,” Simmons said. “These folks went 10 years without an increase in rates.”

I have no idea why Republicans hate the Democratic process and the working class so much. It’s hard enough to get people to sign a card to establish a union, and once they do that a further roadblock is thrown up and an election is held. A majority of home-based child care providers voted for a union, so Republicans are looking for another way to stop the union.

The rightwing, anti-union think tank the Mackinac Center and its newly formed Legal Foundation has been attacking the Child Care Providers since it was formed. They filed a lawsuit claming that because not everybody voted, the election is somehow invalid. The Michigan Court of Appeals rejected that ridiculous claim, so while the case is under appeal, they turned to the Legislature where the anti-union Republicans were very receptive by introducing some bills.

The Republicans have been pushing to make Michigan a so-called “right to work” state to kill the union and have failed. Hardiman’s action to kill this union is similar to that action.

Republicans and their allies continue to attack unions and the Democratic process

Why do Republicans hate the Democratic process and the working class so much?

Republicans can’t stop workers from legally joining a union by a majority vote, they can’t overturn it in court, so they are now trying the legislative route.

The rightwing, anti-union think tank the Mackinac Center and its newly formed Legal Foundation has been attacking the Child Care Providers Together Michigan union, a joint venture between United Auto Workers (UAW) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). The Mackinac Center, and their allies in the conservative media and in the Senate GOP caucus, think it’s somehow illegal for a group of workers to vote to form a union.

The Mackinac Center filed a lawsuit claming that because not everybody voted, the election is somehow invalid. That’s like saying elections are invalid simply because there is not a 100 percent turnout. The Michigan Court of Appeals rejected ridiculous claim, so while the case is under appeal, they turned to the Legislature where the anti-union Republicans were very receptive.

Sen. Mark Jansen, R-Grand Rapids, introduced Senate Bills 1178 and 1179 on Feb. 25, and they were referred to the Senate Families and Human Services Committee he chairs. SB 1178 would prohibit taking compulsory union dues from caregiver subsidies, and SB 1179 would prohibit the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) from recognizing a bargaining unit consisting of individuals who are not public employees. Sen. Nancy Cassis, R-Novi, introduced SB 1173 at the same time that almost mirrors SB 1179. That bill was co-sponsored by Sen. Valde Garcia, R-Howell.

Howell radio station WHMI carried a story on SB 1173 today with the headline, “Garcia Backs Legislation To Change Forced Unionization.” That’s like me saying I was forced to recognize George Bush as president even though I didn’t vote for him. A proper election was held to unionize, and the majority vote to unionize.

His co-sponsorship of SB 1173 is a little surprising when you consider he also co-sponsored SB 731 that would create the Michigan Quality Community Care Council. The Mackinac Center falsely claims it will strengthen the union. Among the things the bi-partisan bill would do is to form the Michigan Quality Community Care Council, and the council would be responsible for working to preserve consumer selection and self-direction of providers.

The fact is the unionization of home-based childcare workers reflects the new realities of the workplace. It stems from policy decisions made in the 1990s requiring persons receiving welfare to work or get work training. That meant their children needed care which helped lead to the growth of home-based care. But until the union was established, those workers had no voice is being able to express their concerns about the system and operations.

Republicans are against any thing that gives workers a voice.

Wear a white shirt to work to honor worker dignity

Wear a white shirt to work tomorrow to both honor the contribution labor unions have made to society by creating the middle class and celebrate the end of the historic 1937 sit-down strike at General Motor's production complex in Flint that led to the United Auto Workers (UAW) recognition as the sole bargaining agent for GM workers.

Thursday, Feb. 11 will mark the anniversary of that historic day that led to the creation of the middle class. More than 60 years ago, workers had to endure tear gas, clubs and an assault by police to win their dignity, but even today the unions and workers are still under assault. The tactics are much more subtle than the outright attacks and violence used by the robber barons, but the only real difference is that the Republicans today are using sneaker methods and lies to try and bust the unions and kill the middle class.

The tradition of wearing a white shirt on Feb. 11 began in 1948 when Bert Christensen, a member of the UAW Local 598 Educational Committee, came up with the ideas of White Shirt Day to mark the end of the historic sit-down strike. He wanted workers to wear the white-collar attire traditionally worn by managers to show the company that blue-collars were just as important as management.

Anti-union activist says he will appeal union-busting case to the Michigan Supreme Court

Anti-union activist Chet Zarko is appealing the Howell Public School E-mail case to the Michigan Supreme Court, according to radio station WHMI and his response to me.

We're all entitled to due process and the process on this issue hasn't ended, so nothing remains to be seen,” he wrote on this blog on Jan. 28. “I'm (sic) you know the answer to whether I'll appeal.”

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled on Jan. 27 on the case involving a Freedom of Information Request (FOIA) for some 5,500 emails sent and received on Howell Public School computers between the leaders of the Howell Education Association (HEA) and their union members were not public record and therefore subject to public disclosure.

WHMI is reporting he is being represented by the National Right to Work Foundation, a union-busting “non-profit” with the mission of “providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by abuses of compulsory unionism.” The mission of the group in this case, like Zarko’s original mission, is to bust or at least embarrass the union.

Back in the spring of 2007, Zarko in cahoots with anti-union Howell school board member Wendy Day, filed a FOIA in a fishing expedition request for the emails of union leaders on their HPS account. Zarko alleges HEA leaders have "conducted a large amount of union business on public time, including trying to retain MEA (Michigan Education Association) affiliated MESSA health-insurance, and using parent-teacher conferences to recruit parents (to) their side of a collective-bargaining debate.” Even though that was proven not to be the case, Zarko persisted in an effort just to find something embarrassing.

In October of 2008 Livingston County Circuit Court Judge Stanley Latreille determined that the e-mails written by union leaders on school computers are public record, and subject to disclosure. The HEA appealed to stop the disclosure because both the district and the union agreed that they had a “recognized right” to use the email system.

That case was appealed to the Michigan Court of Appeals, and oral briefs were taken by a three-judge panel at a hearing on Jan. 5. The court issues its ruling in favor of the union on Jan. 27, saying just because the 5,500 emails were captured by the school’s servers does not mean they are public record. The ruling concluded “We believe this question is one that must be resolved by the Legislature, and we call upon the Legislature to address it, we conclude that under the FOIA statute the individual plaintiffs’ personal emails were not rendered public records solely because they were captured in the email system’s digital memory,”

This is part of Republican’s efforts to bust unions and make Michigan a “Right to Work for Less” state. Shortly after the ruling, the rightwing think tank Mackinac Center’s Legal Foundation sent out a press release saying this ruling “undermines” FOIA, but their only interest, like Zarko’s, is union busting. The rightwing think tank even filed a amicus curiae brief in the case.


During the Court of Appeals hearing on Jan. 5, HPS lawyers argued the case and Zarko sat in the back of the court room. Plus, the case is HEA Vs. “Howell Board of Education” and HPS. Zarko is listed as just a “Intervenor/Counter Plaintiff.” It’s unclear what role HPS will have in the case if it goes to the Michigan Supreme Court. I sure hope no tax dollars go to fund Zarko’s union-busting witch hunt.

Republicans go after police officers and firefighters

The first hearing of the newly formed Senate Reform and Restructuring Committee today to consider Senate Republicans so-called government reform package of bills turned out to be nothing more than two hours of union bashing.

Last week the so-called government reforms the Senate Republicans introduced were nothing more than pay cuts that will kill collective bargaining in Michigan. They are calling for a constitutional amendment to be placed on the ballot in August to require government workers to take a 5 percent pay cut and pay 20 percent of their health insurance premiums. But the one that has flown under the radar and was the focus of almost all the testimony on Wednesday was Senate Bill 1072 that would amend PA 312 of 1969 that allows compulsory arbitration of labor disputes for municipal police and fire departments.

Because police officers and firefighters are essential to public safety, they are not allowed to go out on strike like other bargaining units can, so this gives them a tool in negotiating a contract. PA 312 is the foundation of collective bargaining rights for firefighters and police officers in Michigan, and since 1969 PA 312 has provided a fair and equitable process for contract disputes between firefighters and police officers and municipalities. PA 312 is intended as a last resort in negotiations, not as a bargaining tool.

But the Michigan Municipal League (MML) that represents city and village officials wants to kill it. They blame PA 312 for layoffs and bankruptcies instead of falling property values and reduced revenue sharing, and they cannot produce a single instance where it caused a municipality to go into receivership. The good news is SB 1072 does not go that far.

The bill would clarify that arbitrators must look at a city's ability to pay – something the act already does - and compare the city's other employees to police and fire officials when deciding if salary and other requests are fair. Somehow, I don’t believe a city clerical worker faces the same dangers as a police officer or firefighter.

The hearing was all one-sided, and all of the testimony was from the MML, mayors, city managers and township officials. Not a single union member, police officer or firefighter was allowed to speak.

In response to a question on how many cases of arbitration there were is the past year, the MML declined to answer, only saying they have decreased, but the official said there was no way to “measure the threat of arbitration.” When pressed for an answer by a Democratic member of the committee, the MML official admitted it was only five. That’s right; five cases are bankrupting local government.

As for the threat of arbitration, it’s no different than the threat of a strike, so if they remove PA 312, does that mean police and fire can now strike? Somehow I doubt that.

This is such a farce, and it’s just one more weapons the Republicans are wielding to kill unions, drive wages and benefits down and kill the middle class.

The committee did not take any votes, and it is expected to meet again next Wednesday morning.

The MML is right in that the number of cases of arbitration are going down, and that’s because all municipal bargaining units have sacrificed and made concessions to help balance the budget. The non-partisan Citizens Research Council says an average of only about 33 cases a year go to arbitration – about 8 percent of fire and police debarments, and of those cases, the municipalities are successful 71 percent of the time.

Economic policy not focused on creating jobs

Detroit Free Press columnist Brian Dickerson hit the nail on the head with his column on Thursday when he said politicians’ Jobs, Jobs, Jobs mantra is just a campaign slogan for many.

It’s good news that the University of Michigan’s Research Seminar In Quantitative Economic said Thursday that the national economic recession that began at the close of 2007 ended sometime this summer, but with the high unemployment and so many people hurting, it really has not ended. In fact, they said country will endure a recovery that only slowly produces new jobs.

In his column, Dickerson interviews Professor Richard Block, the former director of Michigan State University's School of Labor and Industrial Relations and a professor there. Block makes the argument that “job creation hasn't been the focus of economic policy in this country for more than half a century -- and still isn't.”

Block went on to say, “what economic policy makers are really focused on is maximizing profits. Most are confident that higher profits will eventually yield enough jobs to put the vast majority of Americans back to work. But Block sees no reason to share such confidence as long as corporate managers, political leaders and ordinary Americans continue to view employment as a business cost, rather than a source of income vital to any sustained recovery.”

"Our economic policy is all about reducing the cost of doing business -- reducing taxes, minimizing regulations and other constraints on employers," Dickerson quotes Block as saying.

Block has some common sense suggestions for job growth, but I’m sure Republicans’ heads exploded at this suggestion: “the United States could do three things most of its European allies have been doing for decades.” If that preamble didn’t cause Republicans to dismiss him and his views, the actual suggestions surely will.

• Increase severance pay requirements for laid-off workers, making it harder for employers to slash payrolls.

That’s the first, and most times only, thing employers look at to cut costs. It's certainly not CEO compensation for the people responsible for running the company into the ground that gets cut. It makes we wonder when they get rid of these employees, who then has the money to buy the product they produce that makes the economy grow? The fact is the auto workers are the most loyal customers and buy the cars they produce.

• Require that any major economic policy initiative acquire the support of institutions authorized to represent the interests of both employers and workers, as Britain and other European manufacturing states experiencing profound dislocations like Michigan's have done.

• Strengthen the collective bargaining system, so that workers' political power is concentrated.

If the head’s of Republicans had not already exploded from the European reference, this surely will. Republicans hate unions and working people.

Friends of working men and women help dedicate museum and celebrate Labor Day

MONROE -- The dedication of the new neon sign at the Monroe County Labor History Museum Saturday proved once against that Monroe is truly a labor town.

The dedication of the sign at the only labor museum in the state was the highlight of the Laborfest in downtown Monroe as people celebrated Labor Day and the decent life unions brought about and its creation of the middle class. The day brought back memories of past Labor Day celebrations when Monroe was home to numerous paper mills and people gathered at the historic Phillip Murray Building that houses the museum - named in honor Philip Murray, the first president of the United Steelworkers of America - to honor the contributions labor made to making this country great.

“The last time we had an event here was in 1964,” said Stanley Lewinski, President of the Monroe/Lenawee County AFL-CIO Central Labor Council that was also celebrating its 50th anniversary. “It’s been a long time since we had a celebration like this in Monroe.”

Dignitaries and friends of labor like Lt. Gov. John Cherry, U.S. Rep .John Dingell and Michigan Democratic Chair Mark Brewer showed up to honor the hard work and contribution of labor and to recognize the effort it took to renovate a rundown building almost 100 years old into a showcase for educating the next generation about the huge contribution labor has made to improving their lives. Labor has been under attack recently, and as the number of people in unions falls, so does the standard of living, wages and benefits.

“During the past eight years, labor unions and the American worker has been under attack,” Lewinski said. “These are difficult times for labor and workers, but that will pass.”

The event has special meaning for Dingell. His father- who served the same district as his son for 22 years - was fired from a job in 1914 for union activities, and in later years, his father and Phillip Murray were friends. The senior Congressman John Dingell helped enact the Wagner Act, also known as the National Labor Relations Act, in 1935 that allowed labor unions to engage in collective bargaining for the first time.

“That was labor’s Magna Carta that allowed workers to bargain for fair wages and conditions for the first time,” he said.” If it were not for Labor, we would not have the things that make life worth living.”

Cherry was the keynote speaker, and he said education is the key to economic growth. Cherry chaired the Commission on Higher Education & Economic in 2004, and he said education and the assault on labor is a contributing factor to wage stagnation and an increasing cost of living. Cherry evoked the memory and words of former UAW President Walter Reuther who spoke about the economic benefits of a good education when Reuther dedicated the building in 1953.

“One third of all people reside in households that earn less than their parents did,” Cherry said. “This is nothing less than a tragedy, and Walter Reuther saw it coming.”

Cherry called out Senate Republicans who eliminate the Michigan Promise Scholarship that would have enabled thousands of Michigan students to afford college.

“The Senate voted to eliminate it and slam the door on those who want to better themselves and improve the economy and stay in Michigan,” he said.

(Photo courtesy of Graham Davis)

Livingston County Democrats and Labor step up for future college students

Livingston County Democrats will award three scholarships, totaling $1,300, to three Livingston County high school seniors for their essays on what organized labor has meant to them and their communities.

“These students have seen the benefits to families and communities when working people come together to support each other,” said Greg Stoey, chair of the union relations committee of the Livingston County Democrats. “In good times and in bad, organized labor has been there to help people.”

The Livingston County Democrats announced the contest in March, and originally they thought they would only be able to offer two scholarships, totaling $600. But because of the generosity and working people and unions, the party was able to award three scholarships totaling $1,300..

First place goes to Vivian Burgett, a senior at Pinckney High School, and carries a $600 scholarship. Second place goes to Tanner Gallant, a senior at Hartland High School, and carries a $400 scholarship. Third place goes to Marie Markell, a senior at Hartland High School, and is worth $300.

The essays were judged by Harold Stack, director of the Center for Labor Studies at Wayne State University.

Contributions to the scholarship came from individuals, the Livingston County Democratic Party, and the following labor organizations: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 252 of Washtenaw County; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 665 of Lansing; Michigan Building and Construction Trades; Washtenaw Skilled Building Trades; Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 190; International Brotherhood and Electrical Workers Local 58 of Detroit; United Auto Workers Local 1284; United Auto Workers Local 598, and United Auto Workers Region 1-C.

The essays will be published here soon.

LIVCO Democratic Party seminar debunks anti-union lies

The Republican Party and the rightwing are spinning out of control to put out misinformation on the recently introduced federal Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) that removes some of the obstacles to forming unions. The Livingston County Democratic Party is sponsoring a seminar to debunk some of those lies, myths and misinformation.

Brent Gillette, the national field director for the Michigan AFL-CIO, will speak at the LIVCO Democratic Party headquarters at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The party HQ is located at 10321 Grand River Ave. Suite 600 in Brighton 48116.

The bill simply allows employees at a worksite who want a union to sign a card clearly indicating support for a union, and the company is required to recognize the union when a majority of workers indicate they want it. Under current law, even if a majority of workers indicate they want collective bargaining representation, management can call for an election, which simply gives them time to call in professional union busters.

Employers have unfettered access to employees leading up to the election where they threaten to fire the main organizers and even bluff that the company will close if it unionizes.

The biggest GOP talking point is that the EFCA will take away the “secret ballot.” Simply not true. The EFCA simply takes that power out of the hands of management and puts it into the hands of the employees. The employers can petition for a “secret ballot” election anytime.

The battle to save the middle class and protect workers begins anew

The battle to save the middle class and protect workers began anew today with the re-introduction of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) in both the U.S. House and Senate.

The EFCA levels the playing field against management that already holds all the cards. The bill simply allows employees at a worksite who want a union to simply sign a card clearly indicating support for a union, and the company is required to recognize the union when a majority of workers indicate they want it. During its last go around, corporate lobbyists blocked this bill, backed by the same union busters and greedy CEOs who ran this economy into the ground.

Republicans have pulled out all the stops to kill both this bill and unions. The false talking point they have grabbed onto is that EFCA does away with the so-called “secret ballot,” and opposing it will allegedly do away with the secret ballot. That is a complete like that even the media has bought into. The reality is EFCA simply takes that power out of the hands of management and puts it into the hands of the employees.

The secret ballot is still preserved, but the power is now in the hands of the workers instead of management who use it as just one more roadblock to establishing a union. Management uses the time to threaten workers, bring in union busting teams and fire organizers and sympathizers.

Employers can require workers to attend all-day mandatory propaganda sessions on paid company time where they can put out false information about the union, say the company will close if unionized and threaten to fire workers.

Union organizers can do little put try to pass out flyers as workers drive out of the employee parking lot as company security keep them as far from workers as possible.

The Employee Free Choice Act simply levels the playing field.