 |
| Protesters outside the State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan today. |
The Republican-led Michigan House has approved a contentious right-to-work bill limiting unions' strength.
The measure approved Tuesday morning deals with public-sector workers. Another bill focusing on the private sector was approved last week, when the Senate OK'd both bills.
When final versions have cleared the House, they'll go to GOP Gov. Rick Snyder for his expected signature as early as Wednesday.
Even with Obama's reelection and strong national support for the policies espoused by Democrats, there are still places, like Michigan, that are still fighting against corporate backed Republicans working hard to break unions and diminish the rights of the middle class.
I know right?
The Republicans talk about the "Right to Work" laws being beneficial to the worker, but of course that is bullshit. Instead it does the following:
And they advertised that "right to work" legislation would protect collective bargaining! When was the last time that the Republicans/conservatives in this country were ever honest about anything?
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom (sad resident of Michigan today)
At this point, I just think it's their own fault for electing these guys. In every state that whines and complains.
ReplyDeleteWho voted Scott Walker in? Who put those Tea Baggers and Repub1%can'ts in the state legislatures?
You get what you vote for. Don't like it? Vote them out and don't vote Repub1%can't ever again.
Can you fight big money? Yes, you can. Jerry Brown defeated Meg Whitman. There are places all over the country where a Democrat has defeated a Republican who is outspending them (with Koch money or other private backing.)
So Michigan needs to get off their butts and work to replace all of these right wing union busters. Then they need to change the law and protect it by making sure the right never holds enough power to change it.
Yeah, it's not easy. But it has to be done. Don't rely on others to do it for you. You have to get in there and do your part.
Oh, please. What makes you think that we were sitting on our butts? What makes you think we didn't work to replace all these right wing union busters? But by all means, make a blanket indictment of everyone in the state.
Delete"Yeah, it's not easy. But it has to be done. Don't rely on others to do it for you. You have to get in there and do your part."
Gosh, thanks for that. We had no idea. How insulting and patronizing! Take a better look at that picture. Those are just a few of the same people that have been fighting very hard to elect progressive legislators and to pass progressive laws. And in fact, in my quite conservative district, we did manage to dislodge one of the teabaggers that was elected in 2010.
You've made so many thoughtful, intelligent comments that this one was surprising.
The Dem voters have bee vigilant in their voting habits, and not let Repubs take over state governments like this.
ReplyDeleteWATCH: Colbert Takes Down Roger Ailes:
ReplyDelete“They couldn’t save The John McCain Show even by making his running mate Honey Boo Boo.” LOL LOL
Since the election, Colbert observed, there’s been much soul-searching over at Fox News — “and I am confident that they eventually will find one.” But Fox News wasn’t at fault for the election, it was… whatshisface. (You know the one. Mop Squeegee.)
You see, Fox News boss Ailes wanted someone else for the presidential run: David Petraeus. They had a plan and everything. Rupert Murdoch would bankroll it, Ailes would manage it, and Fox News would sell it to their audience. “Now,” Colbert continued, “if you think about it, a news network choosing a candidate sounds like a conflict of interest. So don’t think about it. Because it’s not really about conflict of interest. Ailes said he did it because the Republican field needed to be shaken up.”
“He was really just worried about casting his reality show,” Colbert noted. “As a TV producer, Ailes was trying to avoid a repeat of 2008.” They had to make “cranky, old” John McCain look like a star! “They couldn’t save The John McCain Show even by making his running mate Honey Boo Boo.”
But none of this means that Ailes shouldn’t give it another shot in 2016. After all, MSNBC’s already gone ahead and picked their guy Hillary. Let’s have A&E and the Food Network give it a shot, too.
We should remember though that Ailes said his presidential proposal was really “more of a joke.”
“Which, you know, makes me think,” Colbert said, “why can’t a comedy network put up a candidate for president?”
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/colbert-on-roger-ailes-attempt-to-enlist-petraeus-hes-worried-about-casting-his-reality-shows/
OMG Colbert called Sarah Palin Honey Boo Boo
DeleteYeah I saw that. If Sarah is Honey Boo Boo then Toad must be either Mama or Sugar Bear! Which one is Bristol?!
DeleteAnd passed in record time, too. From it's announcement to being passed - less than 1 day. I've no personal knowledge of any legislation ever being passed so quickly. Amazing just how quickly a government body can get something done. If it really wants to. Health care bills can languish around for years and never get passed, but if they want to screw over the poor and working class they can move as if their ass is on fire.
ReplyDeleteSorry, but we in SC have been hearing about this crap from MI for at least two weeks now. Mainly because we already are a RTW state, except we have been for YEARS. Only thing is, in SC it is more like a Right to Fire state in that the employer can fire ANY employee - without cause - and give no explanation. They do it, too, any time someone even TALKS about a union!
DeleteSo what news have YOU been watching that you didn't hear about it sooner?
To make this happen didn't just require some assholes in power, it also required a whole lot more assholes who put them there.
ReplyDeleteMichigan already had a Republican State Senate and almost a majority in the State House in 2010 when sneaky Gov. Snyder was elected and the State House also went Republican. Poor Gov. Granholm had not been able to get anything passed by the combined legislature because of the Republican Senate majority. She did her best though but stalemate was the result all too often.
DeleteIn the 2010 campaign, the entire economic plight of the state and nation was blamed on Gov. Granholm and the Democrats. (Reality does not have to enter into the equation during a political campaign, at least it does not have to if you are Republicans and have huge amounts of cash to spend on advertising.) The people of Michigan, many of whom are rural and live in districts gerrymandered for years to favor the Republicans, got bamboozled. Not all of us, of course, my husband and I are among the many who wouldn't vote for a Republican for any office, including dog catcher.
But 2010 happened, Gov. Snyder promised to be a "moderate." All he did was wait until after the 2012 election to show his true colors. If he keeps his word and is only a one-term governor, maybe we can turn things around. But the money is always there for the Republicans while the Democrats have to beg and beg and beg. (So much for the myth of the rich unions that bankroll Democratic candidacies.)
Beaglemom (reporting from sad Michigan)
I'm absolutely sickened by this as a former resident of Michigan and former member of both AFSCME and the UAW. The speed at which this was accomplished is obviously due to the heavy influence of the Koch creeps and ALEC. How can these legislators look at themselves in the mirror? I wish many long, sleep-disturbed nights upon these sorry excuses of representatives of the peoples' will. Ha!
ReplyDeleteIf unions disappear, wages will fall and people will suffer. Communities and families will fall apart. After a number of years of such bloodletting, desire for union protection will surge across the nation. There will be pushback from company owners and more bloodletting, but some sort of union organization will be allowed.
ReplyDeleteAnd the union members will be diligent, until they realize they’ll be paid whether they work hard or hide in the bathroom. Half of them will opt for hiding in the bathroom (I’m talking about ordinary laborers, not teachers). Many people are natural slackers.
Union members CAN be held accountable (document every infraction), but it’s hard and troublesome. Union leaders fight to keep everyone employed so they can collect dues. Management decides it’s easier to bust the union, and we start all over again. I spent years working with these issues.
"And the union members will be diligent, until they realize they’ll be paid whether they work hard or hide in the bathroom. Half of them will opt for hiding in the bathroom (I’m talking about ordinary laborers, not teachers)."
Delete-----------------------------
Ah, yes, "ordinary laborers", not fine, upstanding, high class, educated people like teachers.
Really? What an indictment of everyone whose employment includes being a union member.
I am unionized and I am sorry, but your whole comment is anecdotal, not statistical. In my union, people can and have been disciplined and even fired. As long as the documentation and the proper procedures are followed, it happens.
You want sweeping, generalized, anecdotal statements?
You know who doesn't have to worry about being fired or disciplined where I work? The non-union people hired and protected by "connections" (family members, etc.).
If you are a hard working person with a work ethic, belonging to a union is not going to turn you into a lazy slacker! If you *are* a lazy slacker, whether you are unionized or not<, you will get away with it, because your efforts will go toward making sure other people are held responsible for your failings!
If management where you are isn't capable of ensuring a functional contract that serves both management and labor, they need to improve their management and bargaining skills. Labor simply doesn't have the power that it is claimed to have or would have a much stronger and more unionized work force.
Oh the pee pond is ALL up in arms over this. Tis from a site with a mem "Liberal Tolerance Is An Oxymoron." Excuse me?!? Did we not just witness the conservative juvenility of 2012? The STUPIDITY over there BURNS.
ReplyDeleteI live in a right to work state, and it SUCKS. I supervise 25 employees, and it's just impossible to help them rise up to a decent standard of living. I'm not required to give them a lunch hour (even though I do); I don't have to recognize seniority (even though I do, because some of these people have been here for decades). Things that I would consider basic labor violations are par for the course here, and it's difficult and expensive to try to do things differently. It makes me sick. If I were a mean boss, I could make my employees work for minimum wage forever, and never let them take a pee break. And the state would not only let me, but ENCOURAGE me. Just awful.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot to mention that an employee can be let go with no cause given. Just, bye, see ya later.
DeleteThere is no such thing as job security in a right to work state. No such thing as equal wages, seniority, everything you mentioned.
Thank you for being one of the good guys.
O/T & pure speculation, DO you think as a result of all the new evidence that surfaced with Ed Opperman that is was a factor in Secret Service agent Prieto's suicide? If so, I think Opperman could really have some solid evidence.
ReplyDeleteBreitbart media is on the scene in Lansing. Waiting to see the palm trees.
ReplyDeleteMI firefighter and police unions are exempt from this law. Meaning they will remain closed union shops. What is the rationale for that?
ReplyDeleteEven if companies drop health insurance they will be required to provide it again in 2014.
ReplyDeleteI believe only if they have over 50 employees.
DeleteAll of this just makes me ill...I thought I was done with the sleepless nights before the election, but it just keeps going. I live in NV now, a RTW state, and I can tell you the first job I had my boss was an evil bitch that hated me because she knew I was smarter and more qualified than she was. I lived and worked in NJ for most of my life and in that state I could have had her fired and fined big time for the abuse. In NV...she could have fired me at any time, and she would have except she needed me to make her look good....it was sheer hell. Talk about needing federal laws protecting employees...it's like the entire country has gone crazy. I simply hate all republicans anymore...they are worse than terrorists, please vote them all out. When is this madness going to end?
ReplyDeleteNobody would join a union if workers were treated decently and paid fairly.
ReplyDeleteYour comment is so obviously true, it is stunning in this vale of obfuscation. Thank you.
DeleteI live in a rtw state as well. Probably the most republican county in the state. Stupid fuckers piss and moan constantly about the things that their employers get away with. Then they run right back and vote republican again. I love reminding them that it's exactly what they voted for. They will never ever learn. Fucking morons!
ReplyDelete10 IF you vote Republican then you live with Republican policies.
ReplyDelete20 Republicans believe that the rich should get richer at the expense of the poor.
30 Don't bitch about it; Go to 10
The two biggest money makers on this planet are fear and hatred. They play into an out of control military with endless, illegal wars; the bloodshed induced by religions who want you to worship their god exactly their way, and not your way, or you're going to be killed; and fear-inducing media. The other night I went to see the new James Bond movie (kind of a nice, classic Bond movie; no overblown 3d special effects or exaggerated nonsense, just a good story.) And we must have seen about six previews in a row for movies that went like this: "Huge explosion; men shooting other men violently with guts everywhere; bigger explosion; Arnold Schwarzenegger or Bruce Willis has one snarky spoken line; more explosions, more shooting." That was the gist of every one of these movies. Talk about selling fear and bloodlust. We're assaulted by it on every side. And when gory video games emulating the worst types of killing sell billions of copies within days of release, you know we're in trouble. Because we don't even question it anymore.
ReplyDeleteFear and hatred, fear and hatred, with an occasional fear, hatred, with a dollop of bloodlust on the side. So fucking tiresome. Can't we do any better as a species?
Jennifer aka Media Insider
All 146 women who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire did so in vain. Nearly 100 years later, a Bangladesh fire kills more than 100 workers. Right to work for less money and your life.
ReplyDelete