Rejecting State Employee Raise

The Michigan Information & Research Service (subscription required) reprinted this blog post by Paul Kersey, labor policy director, explaining why it would not be a violation of labor law for the Legislature to reject a 3 percent raise for state employees as some lawmakers claimed.

Kersey addressed other aspects of why the raise should be rejected here.

The Detroit News agreed with Kersey in an editorial titled "Rescinding pay raise is constitutional" on Saturday.

MIRS also reported that Sen. Bruce Patterson, R-Canton, who first raised the question about labor law and originally abstained from voting on the raise, said he is now ready to vote against it, thanks in part to Kersey's explanation.

"I would say that it was an importent component," Patterson told MIRS when asked if Kersey's blog entry persuaded him.

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are properly cited.