Or what I learned by thinking like a conservative news clown This post is all about getting you to donate to Barrett for Wisconsin to defeat Scott Walker. You can do that now. When North Carolina’s discriminatory and hateful Amendment One won by twenty points earlier in May, I thought, “I didn’t do enough. I should have done more.” (I […]

Small favors… The Lansing State Journal is reporting that, due to the state government budget surplus, unionized government workers will not have to take four unpaid furlough this year as was previously believed. Nearly 37,000 unionized state employees will not have to take four furlough days before Oct. 1, 2012, as originally projected, state officials said this afternoon. Kurt Weiss, […]

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 […]

It’s been no secret that Governor Snyder and his team were going to force union members to bear the full brunt of the financial problems Detroit faces. Now they have finally gotten around to saying it publicly. Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and the City Council must reach concessions with city unions by early February to avoid a recommendation of state […]

The state House passed a bill today that would prohibit schools from deducting union dues from teachers’ paychecks. The bill doesn’t say they don’t have to provide this service, it says they are prohibited from providing this service. Why? It’s definitely not a cost-saving measure. School administrators agree that the cost to schools for providing this service to teachers is […]

The new powers granted to Emergency Managers in Michigan by Public Act 4 (the “Emergency Manager Law”) claimed another victim last month, one that went largely under the radar with the exception of a blurb in the News Herald. Effective in July, Emergency Manager Joyce A. Parker slashed the number of full-time firefighters from 14 to 6. The remaining 8 […]

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 […]

Michigan House Speaker Jase Bolger had a good day yesterday. His effort to stamp down the efforts of 26-year old Autumn Smith to force him to face his constituents in a recall vote got a shot in the arm from a willing judge in Calhoun County. Not only that, he got to enjoy his win on Autumn’s birthday. A judge […]

This scenario was entirely predictable. The latest call for an emergency manager in Metro Detroit is coming from an unlikely place — the affluent Northville Public Schools. Stalled contract negotiations between administrators and employees have school board members discussing the possibility of seeking an emergency manager, which under state law must be appointed by the governor. Emergency managers have the […]

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 […]