Tag Archives | Anti-union

How much would you pay someone to take a bullet for your child?

By on December 16, 2012 in Education, Labor

Why would you hire a greedy parasite to watch and teach your children all day?

Teaching is a tough profession. It has always been, but lately it has become so much tougher thanks to the anti-union attacks teachers and other public employees. It’s becoming harder and harder to understand why anyone would want to be a public school teacher these days.

The anti-union attacks on teachers have been around for decades, starting with idea that teachers get paid a full-time salary but really don’t work full-time; that their cushy workdays end at 3:00 and they have summers off. This is a very shortsighted view and, if you know anyone who teaches, you know how hard they work and how much of that work goes well past 3:00 and the month of May. Often the lines between their personal life and professional life are blurred. To most teachers, teaching is really a calling more than a job.

And yet, we treat these treat these everyday heroes as if they are not worthy of our respect.

Much more after the jump.


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UPDATED x2: Michigan to become nation’s 24th “Right to Work for Less” state

By on December 6, 2012 in Labor, Michigan Republicans

This is what happens when you vote Republican

In a move that surprises just about nobody, Governor Rick Snyder announced at press conference this morning that when anti-union Republicans send “Right to Work for Less” (RTWFL) legislation to his desk, he will sign it.

After spending the past year being coy about his position on RTWFL, it was widely suspected that he would support such legislation. With gerrymandered districts ensuring Republican dominance for the foreseeable future, the will of Michiganders as a whole is being thwarted by a cadre of drunk-with-power ideologues that have been waiting for decades to jam anti-union, anti-worker, anti-woman and pro-Big Business bills through the legislature and into law. The perfect storm of the 2010 midterm election and the redistricting that happened the following year gave them their opportunity.

Details after the jump.


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Michigan Capitol Building full of anti-Right to Work protesters by 9:30 a.m. (VIDEO & PHOTOS)

By on December 6, 2012 in Events, Labor

THIS is what democracy looks like

Via my good friend Abby Clark, a photo and video from the Michigan Capitol Building this morning. It’s already full of anti-Right to Work protesters by 9:30 a.m.

As Abby puts it, “This is a nightmare that should be getting national meda attention. Michigan is the birthplace of the American middle class as we know it and it’s facing an existential threat as retribution for Proposal 2 and the results of the November 6th elections.”

Video and photo after the jump.


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PETITION: Unions ARE Democracy & Freedom. Stop GOP attacks on unions in Michigan, say NO to “Right to Work” for Less.

By on December 6, 2012 in Labor, Michigan Republicans, Petition

Forming a more perfect union

Republican attacks on labor unions are, perhaps, one of the most hypocritical positions that they have. As they hold the U.S. Constitution aloft and bow down in solemn reverence to the Declaration of Independence, they seem to forget a couple of key things.

First, our country is, at its very core, a UNION. We are the UNITED States of America. We work together for the common good of all of our citizens, at least when we’re doing it right.

Second, one of our most basic tenets, right there in the 1st Amendment, is the right to peaceably assemble.

Labor unions are one of the purest expressions of democracy and freedom in this country, a fact that is often lost in the discussion. I want to remind our legislators of this so I started a petition called “Unions ARE Democracy. Unions ARE Freedom. Stop Republican attacks on unions in Michigan, say NO to ‘Right to Work’ for Less.“


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ACTION: Union members ready to stand up for their rights – RALLY in Lansing TOMORROW! – UPDATED x2

By on December 5, 2012 in Events, Labor

You wanted a fight, Republicans? You have yourselves a fight!

Facing a Republican attack on collective bargaining rights and a full-court press to make Michigan a Right to Work For Less state, the Michigan AFL-CIO is hosting another Lobby Day at the State Capitol Building in Lansing tomorrow.

The Republicans have switched from the already-deceitful name “Right to Work” to “Freedom to Work”, presumably so that they can get the attention of tea party fanatics that worship anything with the word “freedom” or “patriot” associated with it (unless that loss of “freedom” comes in the form of an Emergency Manager for an African American community, of course.)

Details about the event and more after the jump.


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Governor Snyder takes sides on Right to Work for Less — It’s now “on the table”

By on December 5, 2012 in Labor, Michigan Republicans

And the winner is… the anti-Labor conservatives

NOTE: This is an abbreviated version of a post I published at the AFL-CIO NOW blog. Click HERE to read the whole piece.

For months and months, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has been playing Switzerland on the topic of “Right to Work For Less” (RTWFL) — the Orwellian-named anti-labor union drive — saying “It’s not on my agenda” but never promising to veto RTWFL legislation. He literally used that exact phrase every single time he was asked about it right up until this past week.

Today, all of that changed. After a meeting with top Republican leaders from the state House and Senate, it’s now “on the table”.


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ACTION: Michigan Democrats & progressive groups get ready for the Republican lame duck session

By on November 27, 2012 in Events, Labor, unions

Now is not the time to rest

The Michigan legislature holds its lame duck session starting today and continuing through December 20th. The Republicans who control both houses of our legislature are signaling that they intend to get a LOT done in over the next four weeks. Further efforts to destroy our labor unions, an egregious, overreaching “reform” (aka privatization) of our public school system and further battles in their incessant War on Women all appear to be on the docket.

The Michigan Democratic Party along with the Michigan AFL-CIO are holding strategy/informational sessions this evening and tomorrow evening around the state and, if you have the time, it is imperative that you attend.…


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Petition language for collective bargaining amendment approved, Snyder warns unions not to move forward

By on March 19, 2012 in Rick Snyder, Teachers

Warning! Warning, Will Robinson!

Today, language for three different petition drives to add amendments to the Michigan constitution received the okay from the state elections panel. One would give home health care workers collective bargaining rights. Another would add specific phrases from the Declaration of Independence to the state Constitution. The third is the petition for the Protect Our Jobs campaign to enshrine protections for collective bargaining.

Approved was the proposal dubbed Protect Our Jobs, which was developed in response to legislative initiatives in the last year to curtail public employee unions and the perceived threat of passage of a right-to-work law.…

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Michigan Republicans pass anti-union bill that saves no money simply to harass unions

By on March 13, 2012 in Teachers

What’s the polite phrase for “dick move”?

This past week, Michigan Republicans passed House Bill 4929 that prohibits school districts from doing automatic deductions from teachers’ paychecks to pay for their union dues. It was touted as a cost-saving measure by some. How much will it save?

See, that’s the thing: Nothing.

According to the most recent Senate Fiscal Analysis:

FISCAL IMPACT
State: The bill would have no fiscal impact on the State.

Local: The bill likely would not result in either net costs or savings to districts. Payroll deductions for union dues are automated in the vast majority of districts.

…


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Mitt Romney spits on Michigan’s unionized autoworkers in Detroit News op-ed

By on February 14, 2012 in Michigan, Mitt Romney, Republican-Fail

And they call Obama “elitist”?

Today, in a Detroit News op-ed titled “Taxpayers should get GM shares’ proceeds”, Mitt Romney doubled down on his previous New York Times editorial in which he declared the Obama administration should have let the auto industry perish.

From the NYT piece “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt”:

IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.

Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses.

…


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