The anti-labor president(ial candidate) Mitt Romney’s labor advisor, Peter Schaumber the former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is being accused of receiving insider information from a current NLRB, Terence Flynn. Flynn served as chief counsel to Schaumber during his stint as chairman. A recent report from the NLRB Inspector General (pdf) highlights a number of clear violations […]

“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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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.]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 should make things interesting. As first […]