In a recent op-ed in Composites World, a trade magazine for the advanced composites industry, North Thin Ply Technology (NTPT) CEO James Austin presents his view on what the protectionist approach to trade led by Donald Trump will likely lead to. His piece is titled “Process automation: A model response to Trumponomics and Brexit” and, in it, he contends that […]

Last week, the Koch brothers-funded group American for Prosperity held a “Day at the Capitol” event in Lansing, Michigan where they spelled out their corporatist agenda for Michigan (you can see the agenda HERE.) Numerous Republican legislators were on the agenda: House Speaker Tom Leonard Speaker Pro Tempore Lee Chatfield House Majority Floor Leader Dan Lauwers State Representative Lana Theis […]

The Ford Motor Co. announced today that it is expanding operations in three Michigan plants and will spend over a billion dollars in the process: Ford Motor Co. will invest $1.2 billion in three Michigan facilities to prepare for production of the all-new Ford Ranger and Bronco, and to support the company’s expansion into mobility. The company said Tuesday it […]

The following guest post was written by Jenny Doezema, a Kalamazoo resident who sends her children to Kalamazoo Public Schools. Enjoy. Earlier this month, Kalamazoo schools were closed when more than 1,900 students fell ill on the same day. The district closed all schools on a Friday to allow them to disinfect the school buildings over a long weekend. Other […]

The Monday after he was sworn in as Pr*sident, Donald Trump met first with CEOs of large corporations. Then, later in the day, he met with union leaders. The “Daily Guidance” issued by the White House the night before described the meeting as a “listening session with Union Leaders and American Workers.” A revised schedule sent around 10 a.m. on […]

The following guest post was written by Ron Bieber, president of the Michigan AFL-CIO. You can sign up to receive legislative action alerts from the Michigan AFL-CIO HERE. You can also follow them at facebook.com/miaflcio, twitter.com/miaflcio, and twitter.com/ronbiebermi. Enjoy. Lame duck sessions are when bad bills happen to good people. That’s been true in Michigan after every major election since […]

What started out as a typical lame duck session where legislative Republicans ram through scads of laws aimed at harming workers, restricting voting access, and benefitting corporations has started to calm down in the waning three days of the current session in Michigan. After backing down from diminishing the retirement benefits of first responders and teachers, it appears that other […]

We all know President-Elect Donald Trump is not a big fan of the First Amendment. During the campaign, the Republican complained it has “too much protection” for free speech. He’s routinely targeted journalists at rallies and on Twitter as an intimidation tactic. After winning the election, Trump’s first tweet took aim at people protesting against him, which he whined was “unfair.” A […]

The worst of the worst during Michigan’s lame duck – or as I like to call it: inflamed duck – sessions and this year is no exception. Last night, House Republicans rammed through two particularly heinous packages bills. The first is one I have talked about before HERE and HERE. This three-bill package – House Bills 6066, 6067, and 6068 […]

As I wrote about earlier this week, one of the more outrageous things being pushed through during the Michigan legislature’s lame duck session is a 13-bill package that would “end post-retirement health care for new local government workers and generally force existing workers and retirees to pay 20% of their post-retirement health care costs”. This was the first time that […]

In her recent write-up, lifelong activist and community journalist Shea Howell very clearly articulated the benefits of Proposal A and the lengths schemers will go through in order to get community members to vote it down in favor of Proposal B. Howell said, “… Detroiters are being flooded with high priced, deceptive appeals for our vote.  Expensive TV and radio commercials, slick […]