Push to make Michigan a right-to-work state gets rolling

[Dave]

Good idea as far as I'm concerned... people should have the right to decide if they want to be in a union or not. If they do, more power to them, if they don't, more power to them too.

 

LANSING -- A grassroots movement to enact right-to-work laws in Michigan began a campaign Thursday that its spokespeople called a fight for free choice that would create more jobs.

The group, called Michigan Freedom to Work, could turn up the heat on an issue that has simmered in Lansing and gained momentum with a Republican-led Legislature and GOP governor.

Eight union members and former union members said at a news conference that though unions are beneficial, their lock on members who are required to pay dues discourages companies from coming to Michigan.

They cited right-to-work states with more robust economies.

At the state Capitol, the coalition members were met by more than 100 union supporters -- mostly members of the Michigan Education Association teachers union -- who quietly handed out papers purporting to refute the right-to-work movement's claims, such as higher wages in right-to-work states.

Tony Amorose, a history teacher in Dearborn schools and a member of the American Federation of Teachers, was part of the Freedom to Work team. He said he comes from a union family with a father who "taught us the value of a union."

But he said economic forces have made right-to-work laws necessary.

"Michigan must respond by becoming more business-friendly," Amorose said.

Terry Bowman, the lead speaker and a UAW worker from Ypsilanti, said the campaign kickoff coincides with the Fourth of July holiday weekend and its celebration of freedom.

Bowman called on Gov. Rick Snyder to back right-to-work bills pending in the Legislature that would prohibit requiring workers to join a union or pay union dues as a condition of employment. He said two-thirds of states with right-to-work laws have higher per-capita incomes than Michigan.

"Families in this state desperately need jobs," Bowman said, "and passing this freedom of choice law is one of the most important things we can do to bring new jobs to Michigan."

Zack Pohl, spokesman for the counter-demonstrators, called the right-to-work push "the latest in a long line of attacks on working and middle-class families in Michigan."

Doug Pratt, spokesman for the MEA, said right-to-work laws have no track record of creating jobs. He said jobs are created through good education systems and well-trained workers.

"You look at the numbers in North Carolina and Oklahoma, they lost jobs when they went right-to-work," Pratt said.

In Michigan, if a union and the employer agree to it, employees must pay dues as a condition of employment.

Bowman pointed out that Snyder said during last year's gubernatorial campaign that right-to-work laws are not part of his agenda, but he would sign right-to-work legislation if it came to his desk.

"We're counting on the governor to keep his word on that," Bowman said.

More recently, Snyder has deflected similar questions, saying he was pursuing other issues.

But many Lansing observers say that with the Legislature having dealt with its top priorities -- passage of a new budget and sweeping tax reform -- attention might turn to social and labor issues that were kept at bay by Democrats in the past.

Many Michigan Republicans from districts with high union membership have steered clear of it in the past, however. One of them, Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, was reminded Thursday by Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, that he had stated his opposition to right-to-work laws in campaign questionnaires.

Whitmer said she was "expecting Sen. Richardville to keep his word on that."

http://www.freep.com/article/20110701/NEWS06/107010439/Push-make-Mi...

[Eye On Ludington]

I agree that people should have a right to make that choice.  It is not fair to expect people to pay union dues just to work at a place.  Sometimes the unions are a joke anyway.  Look what happened in Ludington a couple years ago at the office furniture factory.  A lot of people lost their jobs over that one.