I’m about to break my vow of no profanity on this blog…

In what can only be considered an incredible dick move, Michigan Republicans have decided to take up Democratic legislation that would repeal Right to Work in our state — on the very last day of the 2013 legislative session.

Ideologues. Drunk with power. Being dicks.

What’s good for the goose is, apparently, NOT good for the gander

A couple of weeks ago, I reported on Republicans’ outrage that universities in Michigan were renegotiating contracts with their union employees and including provisions that postponed the impact of their recently-passed Right to Work legislation by allowing for the collection of union dues for several more years.

Today, the Republicans acted on that outrage and chose to punish the schools that did this, namely the University of Michigan and Wayne State University, by eliminating 15% of their appropriation for the next year.

Click through for more.

Exploiting legal loopholes is only allowed if you are Republican or conservative

With the date when Michigan officially becomes a Right to Work (for Less) state looming (March 28th), Michigan Republicans and the anti-union, anti-teacher conservative lobby group The Mackinac Center for Public Policy are in freak-out mode that unions would try to preserve some of their rights before they are stripped from them.

Click through for all of the gory details and hypocrisy.

This isn’t over, not by a long shot

On the heels of a lawsuit filed recently in the Ingham County District Court challenging the constitutionality of Michigan’s new Right to Work law, a coalition of unions has filed a similar lawsuit in federal court. The suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit and assigned to Judge Stephen Murphy, claims that the law violates the rights of private sector union members who are covered under federal law rather than the laws of the state of Michigan.

Details after the jump.

Hmmm…where have I heard THAT before…?

For the two years leading up to the cataclysmic events in December of last year that lead to Michigan becoming the country’s 24th Right to Work for Less state, Governor Rick Snyder told anyone who asked that Right to Work wasn’t “on his agenda” and that it was “too divisive”. That lasted right up until Dick DeVos and other rich Michigan businessmen reportedly delivered the ultimatum that Republicans do as they were told or face primary challenges funded by corporate interests.

Well, the “too divisive” label has now been used by Governor Snyder on another labor related issue: prevailing wage. Snyder says this, too, is “too divisive”.

Details after the jump.

I have a piece up at the AFL-CIO NOW blog that gives a good overview of the complaint currently in the Ingham County Circuit Court seeking to strike down the Right to Work bills that were signed into law in December 2012. The complaint contends that the bills violate he Open Meetings Act, the First Amendment and the Michigan and U.S. constitutions and, therefore, the votes should be invalidated.

Here’s my favorite part:

Although the Republicans still maintain majorities in both the Michigan House and Senate, their margins in the House narrowed considerably after the November 2012 election. They narrowed enough, in fact, that they would not be able to pass these bills today. The two bills involved were passed 58-51 with six Republicans joining Democrats. Five of those Republicans retained their seats and Democrats picked up another five seats. Therefore, the outcome of this complaint could well spell the end of “right to work” in Michigan.

You can read the rest here:

Coalition of Michigan Lawmakers, Unions and Citizen Journalist File Lawsuit to Block ‘Right to Work’ for Less

Enjoy.

The fight continues…

My good friend Bonnie Bucqueroux, a professor at Lansing Community College and owner of the esteemed Lansing Online News, has joined with the American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition labor groups to file a lawsuit intended strike down Michigan’s recent Right to Work law. The suit contends that the legislation was passed in violation of the Open Meetings Act when Republicans locked down the Capitol and wouldn’t even allow journalists, including citizen journalists like Bucqueroux, to cover the unfolding drama.

Details after the jump.

My, my, Governor. That didn’t take long.

Remember when Governor Snyder and his Republican colleagues were telling us all how important making Michigan a Right to Work state was for improving our economy? “It’s freedom to work!” they said. “It will make us competitive with other states!” they claimed. “It will create more and better jobs!” they told us.

Turns out that even Governor Snyder doesn’t believe that tripe. Less than a month after his Economic Development Corporation spent $144,000 on a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal touting our new Right to Work status as one of the attractive benefits of setting up shop in Michigan, this week Snyder admitted it’s all a damn lie.

Details after the jump.

No, we are NOT letting this go

Tomorrow night is Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s State of the State address. Given his track record over the past year, particularly in the past two months, there’s no reason why any of us should believe a word he says. He spent $144,000 to run a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal, bragging about crushing our labor unions by making Michigan the 24th Right to Work for Less state, something he claimed he was not interested in doing. He’s made it harder for Michigan women to obtain legal abortions. He’s raised taxes on over half of Michigan residents, hitting those hurting worst the hardest. He’s basically done everything possible to make Michigan hostile to workers and a low-wage Mecca for businesses with a little far-right conservative ideology thrown in for good measure.

Meanwhile, Republicans voted a known perpetrator of election fraud, Jase Bolger, as the Speaker of the House again.

If you are in the Lansing area tomorrow afternoon/evening, consider joining the AFL-CIO and others from around the state to protest what Governor Snyder and his drunk-with-power ideologically-driven Republican colleagues have done and continue to do to our state.

Details are after the jump.

Wait, I thought Gov. Snyder was a businessman…

A recent study by the Michigan Economic Center asked over 3000 representatives from businesses, nonprofits, and governmental organizations what things Michigan needs to do to attract more business investment in our state. If you listen to Michigan Republicans, including our governor, their answer is “lower taxes and bust unions”.

They might wish to ask the people who actually DO business in this state what they think. “Lower taxes” isn’t even close to the top.

Follow me over the jump for details.

Pure Audacity

If you go to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) website right now, at the very top is the Pure Michigan Logo. On another page called “Right to Work”, this bold graphic dominates the page:

The “Right to Work” page is shown at the top as being part of the “Grow Your Business” section of the website yet the page itself isn’t linked from the “Grow Your Business” page or any other page that I could find on the site.

Note that it directly references our state’s new status as a “Right to Work” state, basically a message to prospective companies that Michigan workers are primed and ready to be exploited by corporations looking for a place to pay rock-bottom wages.

The MEDC is a private-public entity, designed to foster economic growth in Michigan and their tourism campaign, “Pure Michigan”, is known nationally as one of the most recognizable and successful efforts in the country. So, it was shocking to see our governor, Rick Snyder, take out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal with essentially the same message as the MEDC website.

Much more after the jump.