FedUpUSA

Posts Tagged ‘Lansing’

Today was another raucous day in Michigan’s state capitol.   Reminiscent of the uproar in Wisconsin last year, the unions in Michigan were not to be outdone.   The Twitter-sphere was filled with gems like this:

Former MI Governor Jennifer Granholm’s Tweets

‘Collective bargaining?”  Just what does this legislation have to do with collective bargaining Ms. Granholm and Mr. Obama?  Absolutely NOTHING.  In order to actually get people to protest against this legislation, first they have to lie about the legislation.

As my friend Joan Fabiano from Grassroots Michigan states, the bills here in Michigan are about choice.  No more and no less.

What is a Right to Work law? A Right to Work law guarantees that no person can be compelled, as a condition of employment, to join or not to join, nor to pay dues to a labor union. Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act affirms the right of states to enact Right to Work laws.

The Right-To-Work legislation attempts to undo something that was amoral and discriminatory to begin with: using the force of government to require all people in certain fields of work to pay union dues in order to be employed.  The government should have no role in playing favorites or in forcing some people to do the bidding of others.  In this case, unions wanted to force everyone to be members of the union and therefore pay dues, just in order to have a job in a particular field.  To give their demand more authority, power and most importantly enforcement, they got government to write a law favoring their monopolies.  These laws have been in effect now for more than 2 decades.  And where has that gotten Michigan?  Well, we have had the highest unemployment rate in the nation for nearly that long as well as the highest union membership.  What does that tell you?  I’d say it’s a nice illustration of cause and effect.

I also find it hypocritical that the same people who are distorting what the legislation really does and says, and advocating for forced unionization to endure are the same group of people who argue vehemently for a woman’s right to choose an abortion.  Why, may I ask, is the right of a woman to choose any different than a worker’s right to choose?  Some free choice is okay, such as when it ends the life of a living organism, but free choice doesn’t fly when choosing employment?  How about this: If the unions had something of value to offer, they wouldn’t have to use the force of government to get people to join.

Then of course, when all rational argument breaks down, the unions resort to precisely what they have done every single time they are backed into a corner with nothing intelligent to say for themselves:  violence.  Raw, unmitigated, unprovoked violence.  Steven Crowder of PJTV found this out the hard way while manning the Americans For Prosperity tent when the unions decided it was time to make a statement.

Unprovoked Attack On Steven Crowder — Photo Credit: John T. Greilick/Detroit News

Teamster Giving Away Pieces of AFP Tent After They Helped Rip It Down

I’ll note here that many of the members of AFP, Campaign for Liberty and other RTW supporters were legally armed and obviously for good reason.  Despite the unprovoked physical violence of union members upon RTW supporters, no one was shot.  I would say that this is a testament to the fortitude, good judgment, rationality and restraint of law-abiding gun owners.  I would definitely say that I would have feared for my life, especially in the case of Steven Crowder whose second attack came from behind!

A Michigan Education Association (MEA) member teacher who can’t seem to be able to spell our governor’s name. Pssst, it’s S-N-Y-D-E-R.

I don’t expect the union thuggery to go away.  Indeed, I expect they will try more lies and more violence, but the fact is, the final reconciled bills have now passed and Governor Snyder is expected to sign them into legislation tomorrow.  One small step for Michigan….A tiny bit of government thuggery has been removed here, but we will still have to contend with the unions’ thuggery, even if they no longer have the government doing their dirty work.

Michigan House Final Vote Tally On RTW 12-11-12 — Photo Credit Representative Marty Knollenberg

UPDATE:

Governor Snyder Signs Both Right-To-Work Bills, Making Michigan The 24th Right-To-Work State!

Gov. Rick Snyder held a news conference flanked by Lt. Gov. Brian Calley on Tuesday evening after he signed two right-to-work bills into law – Photo Credit: Dale G. Young, The Detroit News