HarryTheSpider

Governor Snyder has signed into law the so-called 'right to work' law in Michigan amid sometimes ugly scenes.

I'm no fan of employees having to pay union dues in companies where there is collective bargaining - overtones of the closed shop and all the problems that brought in the UK in the 70s...

...but the way this law was enacted stinks, quite simply... A sad day for democracy indeed, especially given the boobytraps put in place to protect the new law.

Is this something that will be repeated elsewhere in the US?

Is this the straw that breaks the camel's back politically, and we see the GOP eviscerated in Michigan in 2014, if not before?

What do you think?

RICH

I haven't followed this closely, but they voted on it, and it passed. How is that a sad day for democracy?

My leaning is anti-union, but I have no experience to back that up..

kimilseung

Isn't this the 24th state to get such a ruling?

My leaning is pro union, pro collective bargaining.

Pulaski

I am astounded at the views I heard from the protesters interviewed on the radio. The protesters completely fail to recognize that their rights as individuals are unaffected, what they have just lost is the right to coerce their peers into joining the union and extort money directly from their pay checks. It's a racket, plain and simple.

If joining the union is a good idea then they are still free to join and to contribute financially, but making a forced deduction from the workers' paychecks to fund a non-government organization is soooo wrong, it just seems unAmerican.

HarryTheSpider

Who is 'they' that you refer to?

Look in to how this law was introduced & debated too...

I think you might then see what I am getting at...

RICH

"They" (We) the people, is what I meant.

However, They, who make elections turn out the way they want, for other means, are a different They".

md95065

The one thing that you learn pretty quickly about US politics is that any time a piece of legislation is marketed with a catchy slogan like "the right to work law" or "the Patriot Act" it will, almost by definition, really be about something quite different than what the name implies ...

Michael

23 other states already have a similar law. No state outlaws unions directly (I believe that federal law allows employees to organize) but "right to work" states basically breaks up most unions by passing such laws. The law is usually written that an employee does not have to be a member of a union but has all the rights and protection of the union if one exists. So if too many employees don't pay dues, the union doesn't get enough money to represent the employees (including non members) so it dissolves.

There are two reasons that republicans don't like unions. First unions are major donors to the democratic party and the other is that they believe that unions raise wages and benefits costing the employer profits. It is the same reason that many republicans also oppose minimum wage laws.

During the last election in California, there was a referendum that was advertised as restricting special interest groups from donating to political groups. However corporations were exempt so the only special interest groups that were restricted were unions.

Republicans claim that "right to work" states attract businesses and therefore grow their economy, however the "right to work" states are the poorer states. Only one "right to work" state is among the top ten highest medium income states so therefore it appears that "right to work" states attract companies that don't pay very well.

As an example, Perry (Gov-TX) during the republican primary claimed that Texas (a right to work state) created jobs faster than most other states but the vast majority of the jobs created were minimum wage.

Sally Redux

Obvious way to restrict what little rights workers have here.

HarryTheSpider

IIRC, an awful lot of these jobs weren't created in terms of net increase in jobs nationally, but were jobs that moved from another state... I.e. we're created for the same reason US jobs got shipped to China (which so many politicians suggest is bad...)

To reiterate, my bigger issue is with the WAY this was all done...

jeffreyhy

I agree with you on that.

Regards, JEff

cindyabs

Riot police, pepper spray is this Michigan or Egypt?

Manc

if you don't want to join a union, don't apply for a job where they employ union workers.

jeffreyhy

I believe in Egypt it was the army that was involved, with a lot more than 1 member of the service using equipment that was a bit more lethal than pepper spray.

Regards, JEff

kimilseung