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) […]

Collective bargaining helps ALL workers and anti-labor forces know & fear that

The anti-labor, pro-business group Protecting Michigan Taxpayers has a television ad out now that may be the most egregious, lie-filled, dishonest political ad on Michigan televisions at the moment.

The ad is designed to make Proposal 2, a ballot initiative to protect collective bargaining rights in our state, look like it will endanger children rather than giving our teachers the right to bargain for smaller class sizes, living wages, health care, and retirement benefits.

Almost every day, you see someone on the right accusing groups on the left of using scare tactics. And yet, this ad is the most shameless effort to frighten voters that you’re likely to see this election cycle. They even use the words “dangerous”, “terrifying”, and “risk”.

The ad and much more after the jump.

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 […]

“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 […]

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: […]

Stop the attacks on organized labor This past weekend at the Michigan Democratic Party Endorsement Convention, Michigan AFL-CIO President Karla Swift led a training session for people that will circulate petitions for the Protect Our Jobs constitutional amendment drive. As I wrote before, the effort has the goal of enshrining protections for collective bargaining rights in Michigan’s constitution. Bonnie Bucqueroux […]

Oops. Almost forgot one. In the Michigan Republican’s never-ending effort to stamp out every single public employee union in the state, Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville introduced legislation this week to make sure university graduate student research assistants (GSRAs) don’t get any wise ideas. State Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville has introduced a bill that would bar graduate student research […]

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 […]

Small favors… The Lansing State Journal is reporting that, due to the state government budget surplus, unionized government workers will not have to take four unpaid furlough this year as was previously believed. Nearly 37,000 unionized state employees will not have to take four furlough days before Oct. 1, 2012, as originally projected, state officials said this afternoon. Kurt Weiss, […]

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 […]

It’s been no secret that Governor Snyder and his team were going to force union members to bear the full brunt of the financial problems Detroit faces. Now they have finally gotten around to saying it publicly. Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and the City Council must reach concessions with city unions by early February to avoid a recommendation of state […]