Salon.com > Right-to-work

Unions and conservatives eye the next labor battleground

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 17:50:00 +0000

The passing in Michigan of right-to-work legislation delivered a severe blow this week to the labor movement. Now as union activists and their supporters strategize on how to push back against the national, Koch-backed onslaught against labor rights, right-to-work advocates seek their next battleground.

According to a report by Alexander Burns and Maggie Haberman at Politico, the union counteroffensive is setting its sights on fighting conservative state leaders in next year's gubernatorial elections, particularly in the Midwest. Via Politico:

The AFL-CIO has already built up sizable campaign operations in Pennsylvania, Florida, Nevada and Wisconsin – the site of a titanic 2012 gubernatorial recall fight – in addition to Ohio and Michigan, union officials said. The labor giant deployed new staff to those states about a year ago as part of what AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka has called the “permanent infrastructure” of national unions.

... Labor leaders have vowed to make Snyder regret signing the “right to work” law he approved this week. Beyond Michigan, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett have appeared vulnerable in polling.

Fox News revealed selective editing of punched Fox News contributor

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 14:00:00 +0000

A video of Fox News contributor Steven Crowder getting punched by a Michigan union protester was selectively edited, and that editing was revealed during Crowder's appearance on Sean Hannity's show on Fox News.

The original video shows Crowder getting punched by a protester on Tuesday while Crowder was trying to stop an Americans for Prosperity tent from being torn down. The video, which is approaching a million views on YouTube, was picked up by the right as evidence of "union thuggery":

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But on Wednesday, Eclectablog's Chris Savage argued that Crowder's video is "actually a composite of things that happened over the course of the day, many of them hours apart."

Crowder defended himself on Twitter:

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He added that the full footage was shown on Sean Hannity's show the night before.

As Robert Mackey of the New York Times' Lede Blog points out:

Michigan unions won’t lie down

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 16:17:00 +0000

In Michigan, the birthplace of the labor movement, this week’s abrupt passage of a “right-to-work” law incited the largest protest in Lansing’s history: at least 12,500 people, wearing red, chanting, singing, drumming, committing civil disobedience, and otherwise battling to be heard as lawmakers in a lame-duck session overhauled the state’s labor laws without public input or committee meetings. State house Democrats’ attempts to pass amendments that would, for example, put right-to-work up for a public vote or eliminate the $1 million appropriation seemingly designed so that the law withstands the threat of voter referendum, all failed. That $1 million appropriation is supposed to go toward educating workers and union about life under right-to-work, and, in the budget-strained state, it’s not clear what the source of the money will be.

Fox News contributor punched during right-to-work protests

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 16:00:00 +0000

Yesterday, the right was all over this video of Fox News contributor Steven Crowder getting punched by union protesters in Michigan, over the state's right-to-work law.

The video is edited so it's tough to nail down the sequence of events specifically, but Crowder appears to have gotten punched while trying to stop protesters from tearing down an Americans for Prosperity tent.

Watch:

The right pounced on Twitter:

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On Sean Hannity's show, Crowder said: “I literally believe, Sean, that if I had defended myself at all, even flicked a small little jab, that they would have killed me where I stood."

Must-see morning clip: Jon Stewart explains right-to-work

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 14:06:00 +0000

Last night, Jon Stewart explained right-to-work, and why it's actually a lot worse than the name would suggest.

"It's really a 'right-to-work-around-the-union-for-the-corporation,'" he said. "It's one of those things that are actually named for the opposite of the thing they do. Strip bars call themselves 'gentleman's clubs.' They're not. Or the TV network dedicated to making us stupider is called The Learning Channel."

And then he rapped, "8 Mile"-style.

Watch:

Michigan’s right-to-work bill cribs ALEC

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 23:40:00 +0000

The Republican-backed right-to-work bill given final approval Tuesday in Michigan contains language cribbed verbatim from a model anti-union bill created by ALEC, according to a watchdog group.

The American Legislative Exchange Council, of course, is the corporate-backed, conservative-leaning organization that has become a bugaboo for liberals by pushing legislation to do everything from roll back environmental regulation to weaken gun control laws, as brought to the fore this year by the murder of Trayvon Martin. ALEC, like lots of groups that work in state capitols, creates “model legislation” that friendly lawmakers can introduce in whole or as a basis for their own bills.

Both Michigan’s HB 4003, which affects public sector unions, and HB 4054, which affects private sector unions, appears to pull language directly from ALEC’s model right-to-work bill. The Center for Media and Democracy, a liberal watchdog group which has been working for years to expose ALEC’s activities, created these chart comparing the language:

Dumb tweet of the day: “Violent Union Thugs 1st”

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 22:56:00 +0000

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Thousands to rally against Michigan right-to-work

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 13:50:00 +0000

UPDATE 2.30 p.m. (EST): Gov. Rick Snyder spoke to MSNBC following the House votes and reiterated his vow to sigh right-to-work bills into law. Host Andrea Mitchell pushed the Republican governor on the fact that right-to-work had not been a campaign issue. He responded that his decision to back the union-busting legislation followed a failed attempt by labor leaders in the state to extend collective bargaining rights through a bill called Proposal 2. Snyder told Mitchell:

Well, the voters spoke in November and dramatically voted down Proposal 2, but then this right to work discussion just continued to escalate and was becoming very divisive. So the way I viewed it is, it's on the table. It's a hot issue. Let's show some leadership. So I stepped up to say when I review it, I think it's a good thing. It's about being pro-worker. It’s about giving freedom of choice to workers.

Watch a clip of the interview via MSNBC below.

UPDATE 1.50 p.m. (EST): The Michigan House has approved both right-to-work bills, pertaining to both public and private sector workers, and the legislation will now be sent to Gov. Rick Snyder, who vowed he would sing the bills into law.

Koch brothers, Tea Party cash drives Michigan right-to-work bill

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 13:37:00 +0000

Should we be surprised that Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, who testified under oath that “right-to-work” wasn’t part of his agenda, is poised to sign just such a bill later today?

Snyder’s announcement last week that he’d support right-to-work has taken the sheen off his carefully cultivated image as a pragmatic alternative to hard-charging GOP counterparts in Ohio and Wisconsin. But it secures a dream of the anti-union Koch brothers and the American Legislative Exchange Council, whose associates are well-represented among Snyder’s donors, and whose economic agenda has been ascendant within the modern GOP.

“I think he was being a puppet for larger interests outside of the state,” United Auto Workers vice president Cindy Estrada told Salon Monday afternoon.

Dumb tweet of the day: On abortion and right-to-work

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 22:06:00 +0000

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Obama criticizes Michigan right-to-work bills

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 22:00:00 +0000

REDFORD, Mich. (AP) — President Barack Obama says right-to-work legislation in Michigan is more about politics than economics. He is criticizing a measure that would prevent requiring non-union employees to financially support unions at their workplace.

Obama received loud applause at a Michigan engine plant when he said we shouldn't be "taking away your rights to bargain for better wages and working conditions."

The president says that the right-to-work bills are more about "giving you the right to work for less money."

The Michigan House and Senate approved the legislation last week. Democrats have urged Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to veto the measure that he has pledged to sign.

The Republican-controlled Legislature is expected to take final action on the bills as early as Tuesday.

Right-to-work bill: Michigan just gives up

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 21:05:00 +0000

If you want to understand why Michigan is going to pass a right-to-work law this week, go to the Grand River Bar & Grill, a tavern on the north side of Chicago. It’s one of a half-dozen Chicago bars designed to appeal to graduates of Michigan State University. Green and white flags hang on the walls, the MSU fight song blares during Spartan basketball games, and there’s even a euchre league, for fans of the countrified form of bridge played in Michigan college dorms.

Fifty percent of Michigan State students now leave the state immediately after graduation. That ratio doubled in the 2000s, which is known in Michigan as “The Lost Decade.” In those 10 years, Michigan dropped from 30th to 35th in the percentage of college graduates, and from 18th to 37th in per capita income. (Michigan was also the only state to lose population in the last census.) The university system’s main function is giving Michigan’s brightest students a credential to get the hell off that jobless peninsula.

Their No. 1 destination is Chicago, the drain where most of the brains in the Midwest end up. (Every Big Ten school is represented by at least one bar there.)

Labor rights in Michigan blindsided by GOP

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 17:19:00 +0000

Last night Republican legislators backed by the Koch brothers delivered a harsh blow to the union heartland of Michigan. Right-to-work legislation was pushed through both the state House and Senate by Republican majorities, while powerless and furious protesters looked on.

It was a sneak move -- GOP lawmakers only announced Thursday morning that they intended to enact the so-called right-to-work bill (aptly described by its opponents as the "no-rights-at-work" bill). Right-to-work laws ban requirements to pay dues or fees to a union as a condition of employment -- studies have consistently shown that states with right-to-work laws have lower wages for union and non-union workers.

As a study by Elise Gould and Heidi Shierholz of the Economic Policy Institute found:

[O]ur findings -- that "right-to-work" laws are associated with significantly lower wages and reduced chances of receiving employer-sponsored health insurance and pensions -- are based on the most rigorous statistical analysis currently possible. These findings should discourage right-to-work policy initiatives. The fact is, while RTW legislation misleadingly sounds like a positive change in this weak economy, in reality the opportunity it gives workers is only that to work for lower wages and fewer benefits.