When Scott Walker announced his candidacy for president in July of this year, labor supporters across the country collectively groaned that the thought that anyone at all would consider voting for the anti-worker, Koch brothers puppet. Richard Trumka, the president of the AFL-CIO put out a press release with just six words: Scott Walker is a national disgrace. Yesterday, Scott […]

If you haven’t signed up for health insurance yet, this program is a great way to go. The clock is ticking on 2015 open enrollment for health insurance. With the February 15th deadline approaching fast, the time to act is now if you’re not already covered. But getting health insurance is only the beginning. Then you have to put your […]

The American Dream, according to dictionary.com, is defined as: the ideals of freedom, equality, and opportunity traditionally held to be available to every American, or, a life of personal happiness and material comfort as traditionally sought by individuals in the U.S. I might suggest that, based on generational differences, the definition of the American Dream might be different from generation […]

A couple of years ago, I met with Michigan State AFL-CIO President Karla Swift to talk about the current state of the labor movement. During that conversation, she asked me what advice I had, if any, with regard to improving the labor movement in Michigan. I told her two things: change the face of labor in terms of people’s perceptions […]

Monday, April 28th, 2014 is Workers Memorial Day, a day to remember the men and women in our country who have given their lives for their jobs. Millions of people are impacted every year, either through job-related illness or death. On that day, the Michigan AFL-CIO is holding a silent vigil followed by a march to commemorate those who have […]

We’ve had a great response to our call for sponsors for the Eclectablog 10-year “Blogaversary” party that’s happening on May 1st, 7-9 p.m. at the Arbor Brewing Company Microbrewery (formerly the Corner Brewery) in Ypsilanti. Here’s the latest list: GOLD LEVEL SPONSORS Michigan Democratic Party AFSCME SILVER LEVEL SPONSOR Michigan Nurses Association Michigan AFL-CIO BRONZE LEVEL SPONSOR Planned Parenthood Advocates […]

Last week the Michigan AFL-CIO gave its endorsements to two statewide candidates and several Congressional candidates: Mark Schauer, Governor Gary Peters, U.S. Senate Jerry Cannon, U.S. House – CD 1 Dan Kildee, U.S. House – CD 5 Pam Byrnes, U.S. House – CD 7 Sandy Levin, U.S. House – CD 9 John Conyers, U.S. House – CD 13 Yesterday, Mark […]

Michigan citizens: 1, Attorney General Bill Schuette: 0

Back in January, I wrote about a lawsuit filed by the ACLU, the MEA, the AFL-CIO and others that challenged Michigan’s Right to Work law since it was passed in violation of the Michigan Open Meetings Act. Because Republicans locked citizens (and Democratic lawmakers) out of the building during the vote, the plaintiffs say the law should be invalidated.

This could be a HUGE deal because Republicans passed the legislation by a margin that was larger than than the margin they hold in the House after last November’s election. They would be forced to bring more of their GOP caucus over to vote yes on this legislation which may be difficult do, politically speaking.

Yesterday, Ingham County Circuit Judge William Collette overruled a request by Attorney General Bill Schuette to throw the case out of court.

Details after the jump.

We haven’t forgotten

Michigan Republicans surely hoped we would all “just settle down” and forget about the travesty that was their inflamed duck session. On the contrary, we not only did not forget, we are more fired up than ever to put a stop to their destruction of our state.

The first step happens tomorrow when the legislators return to the Capitol for the swearing in ceremony of the new legislature.

The AFL-CIO will be there with working families from across the state to remind them of the shameful things they have done and let them know we aren’t backing down.

Details after the jump.

You wanted a fight, Republicans? You have yourselves a fight!

Facing a Republican attack on collective bargaining rights and a full-court press to make Michigan a Right to Work For Less state, the Michigan AFL-CIO is hosting another Lobby Day at the State Capitol Building in Lansing tomorrow.

The Republicans have switched from the already-deceitful name “Right to Work” to “Freedom to Work”, presumably so that they can get the attention of tea party fanatics that worship anything with the word “freedom” or “patriot” associated with it (unless that loss of “freedom” comes in the form of an Emergency Manager for an African American community, of course.)

Details about the event and more after the jump.

And the winner is… the anti-Labor conservatives

NOTE: This is an abbreviated version of a post I published at the AFL-CIO NOW blog. Click HERE to read the whole piece.

For months and months, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has been playing Switzerland on the topic of “Right to Work For Less” (RTWFL) — the Orwellian-named anti-labor union drive — saying “It’s not on my agenda” but never promising to veto RTWFL legislation. He literally used that exact phrase every single time he was asked about it right up until this past week.

Today, all of that changed. After a meeting with top Republican leaders from the state House and Senate, it’s now “on the table”.