Tag Archives | Labor

Detroit teachers ratify new contract, join 40 other schools and 5 universities facing punishment from Michigan GOP

By on March 27, 2013 in Education, GOPocrisy, Michigan Republicans, Teachers

Republicans punishing schools for 100% legal union contracts

This week, Detroit Public School teachers ratified a new union contract that staves off the impact of a new Right to Work law that goes into effect tomorrow. While the contract doesn’t give much to the teachers, it at least provides them with continued collective bargaining rights into the future.

With this action, the DPS now joins at least 40 other schools and five universities that face punitive action from Michigan Republicans who seek to deny them and some cities critical funding in a childish act of retribution.

Details and commentary after the jump.


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AFL-CIO enthusiastically endorses President Obama for his full-throated support of labor

By on March 14, 2012 in Barack Obama, Labor, President Obama

“I’ll place my bet on the American worker any day of the week”

Yesterday, Richard L. Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO, sent out this statement:

This afternoon, the AFL-CIO’s General Board voted unanimously to endorse President Obama for re-election.

For many reasons, we are pledging to work with President Obama throughout the elections and in a second term. The bottom line is this: As president, Barack Obama has placed his faith in America’s working men and women to lead our country to economic recovery and our full potential. So we’re putting our faith in him.

Although the labor movement has sometimes differed with the president and often pushed his administration to do more—and do it faster—we have never doubted his commitment to a strong future for working families.

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Michigan Republicans move to make illegal strikes illegal(er)

By on January 18, 2012 in Labor, Michigan Republicans, Republican-Fail, unions

It’s a good thing we don’t have any real problems in the state of Michigan. The fantastic shape we’re in and the abundance of jobs gives Republicans the opportunity to work on things like THIS.

A package of Republican bills in the state Legislature would boost penalties for public workers who go on strike. The legislation would also let employers sue striking workers who get in the way of their businesses, and make it more complicated for unions to get dues deducted from employee paychecks.

The state House Oversight, Reform, and Ethics Committee opened hearings on the package today.

“It’s just to give clarity,” said Rep.

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ICYMI: Why the Michigan GOP took the “Financial” out of “Emergency Financial Manager”

By on December 1, 2011 in Education, Emergency Manager Law, Emergency Managers, Labor, Michigan

With Detroit facing an imminent takeover by an Emergency Manager, I thought now might be a good time to remind everyone about a subtle but incredibly important change that occurred when Public Act 4 — the Emergency Manager Law — was passed. This was first published in June.

Please share widely if you care about this issue.
When Michigan Republicans passed the legislation that became Michigan Public Act 4 of 2011 or P.A. 4 or the “Emergency Manager Act” or “local government and school district fiscal accountability act” or, as I call it, the Financial Martial Law Act, they took a subtle step that few noticed.…


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Interactive panoramic image from President Obama’s speech in Detroit, Labor Day 2011

By on September 6, 2011 in Barack Obama, Detroit, Labor, President Obama

You can use your mouse to spin the image around and you can also zoom in and out using the scroll button on your mouse.

Enjoy.

[This image is by Anne C. Savage. Please do not use without permission. Visit her blog for many more photos.]

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President Obama in Detroit on Labor Day defies the laughable myth that his “base” has deserted him

By on September 6, 2011 in Barack Obama, Detroit, Labor, President Obama

Detroit’s a special place. On Labor Day, it doesn’t just have one labor union parade.

It has two.

Yes, in Detroit both the building trades union and the AFL-CIO both held simultaneous parades to celebrate workers in general and union membership specifically. The theme of the day was “Labor and Community: We are One”. Thousands of union members walked along the streets of Detroit, streets that are showing surprising amounts of life and resurgence despite the tales of gloom and doom we read about on a daily basis. Detroit’s quiet reemergence from the desperate economic straits we’re in was reflected in the quiet dignity of the union members who walked today.…


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Mich GOP “identity theft” robocalls idea stolen from shameful California labor group initiative

By on September 1, 2011 in Labor

A couple of weeks ago, I reported on a series of robocalls being conducted on the west side of the state warning people not to sign petitions because of the threat of identity theft. It’s a particularly odious tactic to suppress petition signature rates in the myriad recall and repeal efforts against Republicans across the state.

Turns out the idea originated in California with a coalition of labor groups calling themselves Californians Against Identity Theft. This group is running radio ads in addition to their absurd website. The labor groups involved are the California Building and Construction Trades Council and the California State Pipe Trades Council.…


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Using the Emergency Manager Law as a cudgel to bash unions into submission

By on August 2, 2011 in Benton Harbor, Emergency Manager Law, Emergency Managers, Joe Harris, Labor, unions

Last month, I wrote about how the Northville School District was using the threat of an Emergency Manager to strong arm concessions from teachers in their contract negotiations.

  • Snyder’s budget strips away money from the schools.
  • The schools are forced into a bankruptcy situation.
  • They turn to their employees and teachers for drastic concessions (a nearly 10% pay cut and no raises for two years in this case.)
  • Because teachers have already given up much in recent years, they resist further cuts.
  • The school district threatens the union with an Emergency Manager, an individual that has the power to come in and unilaterally wipe away their contracts.

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Why the Michigan GOP took the “Financial” out of “Emergency Financial Manager”

By on July 11, 2011 in Education, Emergency Financial Managers, Emergency Manager Law, Emergency Managers, Labor, Michigan

When Michigan Republicans passed the legislation that became Michigan Public Act 4 of 2011 or P.A. 4 or the “Emergency Manager Act” or “local government and school district fiscal accountability act” or, as I call it, the Financial Martial Law Act, they took a subtle step that few noticed. They changed the name of “Emergency Financial Manager” to simply “Emergency Manager”.

Why did they do this? A quick look at the new law tells the tale.

In P.A. 4, there is a “Definitions” section and one of the items there is this:

“Emergency manager” or “manager” means the emergency manager appointed under section 15.…

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BREAKING: Mich Teachers’ Union WILL be supporting recall of Gov. Rick Snyder!

By on July 8, 2011 in Labor, Michigan, Rick Snyder, unions

Early this week, I reported that the Michigan Education Association (MEA), the union for Michigan teachers, was getting involved with various recall efforts around the state. After hearing from Chris Bowers at Daily Kos, I pulled my punch a bit with this update:

UPDATE: As Chris Bowers from Daily Kos indicates, the MEA has not officially endorsed the recall of Rick Snyder. As you can see below, their language seems to indicate that they are but it is vague enough that a true endorsement isn’t implicit. I’ll update with more information as I get it.

Well, THIS is your update. The MEA WILL be getting involved with the recall of Governor Rick Snyder along with a number of other GOP lawmakers.…


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