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 […]

Oh, great. Rep. Bill Rogers, the guy who sponsored two bills to diminish, threaten and punish unionized teachers in Michigan is now heading up a group reform Michigan’s entire education system. State Rep. Bill Rogers, R-Genoa Township, is spearheading an education-reform work group he said will be “proactive instead of reactive” in pursuing changes to education funding and how students […]

In case you missed it, last week the Republicans passed a tax reform bill that is a key component Michigan Governor Rick Snyder’s budget plan that cuts business taxes by over 85% and does so on the backs of retired folks, kids and the working poor. The bill now heads to the Governor for his signature. Gov. Rick Snyder’s massive […]

Back in March, I wrote about Michigan Republicans’ efforts to further penalize teachers who go on strike in our state. From the article I linked (no longer available): State Rep. Bill Rogers, R-Genoa Township, on Tuesday introduced legislation creating penalties for public schoolteachers and the Michigan Education Association for inciting or participating in strikes. House Bill 4466 would fine the […]

Color me shocked! The Republicans are unhappy with the effort of Michigan Citizens United (webpage firericksnyder.org) to recall Republican Governor Rick Snyder. They are trying to characterize it as being entirely the effort of the Michigan Education Association, the teachers’ union in our state, based on the fact that an MEA fax number is erroneously listed in some of their […]

It’s beginning to become a bit of trend here in Michigan: tea partiers have a rally that is dwarfed by a liberal/Democratic/labor rally. This week was no exception. Yesterday, the biggest protest rally yet by union members on the steps of the State Capitol building drew an estimated 4,500 attendees. Thousands rally at Capitol against Michigan budget, cuts to education, […]

Arlo Guthrie totally gets it right: Back in 1776, a whole new nation was formed. Thirteen British colonies tried unsuccessfully to have the concerns of their citizens heard or taken seriously by the empire across the Atlantic. So the colonists formed themselves into a union. The preamble to the Constitution begins with these words: “We the people of the United […]

Talking Points Memo has an exclusive report detailing sweeping Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy to three of the biggest universities in Michigan. The universities involved are Michigan State University, University of Michigan, and Wayne State University. The Mackinac Center For Public Policy, based in Midland, Mich., submitted the FOIA requests last Friday […]

To fully tell this story, you have to go back to the beginning of the protest rallies in Madison, Wisconsin. On February 17th, Governor Walker told the press that his office had received “over 8,000 emails” which he said were mostly supportive of his efforts to smash the unions. “The more than 8,000 emails we got today, the majority are […]