As Michigan’s Legislature considers whether to make ours a right-to-work state, an MLive political column on the issue calls it “… the single most divisive issue in Michigan, where the union movement was born during the Flint sit-down strikes nine decades ago when police bloodied workers for having the audacity to fight for a union to secure a livable wage.”
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio explains in The Detroit News today that a right-to-work law in Michigan would “not affect collective bargaining in any other way except for prohibiting a union from getting a worker fired for not paying them.”
In a speech recently, Gov. Rick Snyder reiterated his support of natural gas extraction via hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). This is a good sign for taxpayers, job seekers and environmentalists.
Despite the alarmism, fracking is safe — and much safer than the alternatives. Most of the fear about gas extraction comes from a disingenuous scene from a film in which people light the methane coming through their water pipes on fire because of alleged improper well construction, which has nothing to do with fracking.
It’s rare for employers to oppose right-to-work laws — the policy of allowing employees to choose whether or not to financially support unions. But that’s the exactly the position of two organizations that represent one of the state’s largest, tax-supported employers — public schools.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 1360, Extend deadline on school employee pension reform choices: Passed 26 to 12 in the Senate
To extend from October 26, 2012 to January 9, 2013, the deadline for public school employees to choose whether to contribute more toward the cost of their defined benefit pensions or else accept a slightly less generous benefit calculation formula, as required by a recently-passed pension reform law.
Right-to-work states have more job growth and wage growth than forced unionism states, Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio told The Washington Times.
“Michigan is the only state in the country during the last census to lose population,” he added. “Forced unionism is even hurting itself and its stronghold.”
If Michigan were to become a right-to-work state, unions could no longer force members to financially support them. Around the country, many workers flee their union when given the choice. This means that our state’s largest union, the Michigan Education Association, could potentially lose a lot of members if teachers decide the group is not delivering services worth hundreds of dollars a year in dues.
Senior Investigative Analyst Anne Schieber explains in this short video what right-to-work is, and what it is not. You can read more about this issue here.
Michigan lawmakers are edging closer to granting workers the freedom to choose their workplace destiny through a right-to-work law, which prohibits employers from requiring union dues or fee payments as a condition of employment.
This comes within a year of Indiana making the same decision.
The Michigan Public Education Finance Project, an effort to create a new school aid act to direct how public school funding works in Michigan, is still not about vouchers, despite the attempts by some school officials to continue pretending that it is.
As Michigan legislators edge closer to making themselves “fall guys” for Obamacare’s coming disappointments by creating a state-run “exchange,” yet another Republican governor has told the feds “no thanks.” Here is the key portion of a statement made yesterday by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer:
(Editor's note: The threatened blackout described below was averted when the parties involved reached an 11th hour agreement late on Nov. 29, 2012.)
Charter Cable customers accustomed to viewing Channel 8 (WOOD-TV) and Channel 15 (WTVS) in Michigan’s Kent County viewing vicinity may find the two stations blacked out if a broadcast retransmission dispute isn’t resolved this week. The dispute arose when LIN Media, the stations’ owner, announced it was seeking a 150 percent increase in retransmission-consent fees received from Charter Communications.
Add the Wall Street Journal to the growing list of voices (including the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, the Heartland Institute, the Mackinac Center and others) recommending that legislators here and in other states “just say no” to creating a state Obamacare exchange. Here are some pertinent excerpts:
Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek was on “The Tony Conley Show” on WILS AM1320 in Lansing today discussing proposed reforms to public school funding in Michigan. Van Beek wrote about the issue here, and Michigan Capitol Confidential has written about the “unfounded hysteria” being spread through the media about the legislation.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio was a guest Friday on “After the Bell” on Fox Business, continuing his discussion from earlier in the week regarding the declining influence of unions across the country.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
The House and Senate did not meet this week, so rather than votes, this report instead contains several recently introduced bills of interest.
Senate Bill 1340: Increase fine for illegally shooting deer with big antlers
Introduced by Sen. Phil Pavlov (R), to increase the amount of restitution a person must pay for shooting a deer out of season or without a proper license if the animal has big antlers, with the penalty amount based on how big the antlers are. Referred to committee, no further action at this time.
A proposed bill was introduced last week at the request of Gov. Snyder that would reform Michigan’s public school funding system. According to a summary, a primary goal of the proposal is to make it easier for students and parents to choose from a wide selection of public school learning opportunities.
By Jack McHugh
Gov. Rick Snyder is negotiating with the federal Department of Health and Human Services over the details of an Obamacare “partnership exchange,” which may be a blessing in disguise for those who oppose the law.
“Exchanges” are the mechanism by which Obamacare’s trillions of dollars in subsidies will be administered, and one operated by either the state or the federal government must exist in every state by 2014 for the law to work.
On Monday, a circuit court judge ruled against a group of developers and real estate agents suing the Kent County Land Bank for blocking tax foreclosed property from auction.
This summer, the land bank coordinated with Kent County government to block more than 40 properties from going to tax auction, where anyone could have bid on them.
Now that voters have rejected Michigan's emergency manager reform with the defeat of Proposal 1, Gov. Rick Snyder and the Legislature have an opportunity to fix the law. James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy, explains how in this Lansing State Journal Op-Ed.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio was on “After the Bell” on Fox Business Tuesday afternoon, discussing the crushing blow organized labor took with the defeat of Proposal 2 last week.
Vernuccio also talked about the ramifications of the election on “The Tony Conley Show” on WILS AM1320 in Lansing and wrote about it at RealClearPolicy.com.
Senior Economist David Littmann recently told WXYZ-TV7 in Detroit that Michigan will be hit harder than the rest of the country if the Bush-Obama tax cuts are allowed to expire.
“Michigan would be a wipe out compared to the other states,” Littmann said of the impending “taxmageddeon,” noting that “Michigan can never be divorced from the national economy. We depend on the very basics of growth and income, employment, purchasing power and confidence.”
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 1276, Restrict setting aside state land for “biological diversity”: Passed 26 to 11 in the Senate
To prohibit the Department of Natural Resources from designating an area of land specifically for the purpose of achieving “biological diversity.”
Michigan voters' rejection of Proposal 2, a ballot initiative that would have given broad and sweeping power to government employee unions, was geographically widespread. Of Michigan's 83 counties, all but two rejected Proposal 2 on Tuesday.
In fact, 64 counties — more than three quarters of all Michigan counties — rejected Prop 2 by more than 60 percent. Ottawa County voted overwhelmingly against the proposal, with more than 75 percent of voters rejecting it.
The New York Times reports that the failure of Proposal 2 is “an embarrassing loss for labor in a state known as a cradle of American unionism.”
F. Vincent Vernuccio, labor policy director, told The Times that “Voters were afraid of amending the constitution to give that much power to organized labor and make them a superlegislature above their representatives.”
