I have deep roots in Michigan. My grandfather went to school there and then raised his family in Kalamazoo. I went to school there. One of my brothers went to school there. My ex-wife is from Detroit. I cannot imagine Michigan as a right-to-work state. It’s a cultural thing. You either understand it, or you don’t. But it runs as deep as U of M’s maize and blue. I think it goes far beyond partisan politics. It’s more like how hunting and fishing are ingrained parts of the culture is many parts of the country (including Michigan). You can’t take that away just by signing a slip of paper that you call a law. The people won’t accept it.
I guess that is what the state’s Democratic congressional delegation was trying to tell Gov. Rick Snyder:
Top Democrats in the Michigan Congressional delegation just wrapped up their meeting with Governor Rick Snyder, during which they urged him in no uncertain terms: If you go forward with “right to work” legislation, you’ll be consigning the state to years of discord and division. They urged him to consider vetoing the legislation or postponing it until the next session — or even agreeing to subject it to referendum.
According to Dems who were on the call, Snyder told them he would “seriously” take into account their objections — which they took as a genuine indication of possible willingness, for now, to reconsider…
…Dems told Snyder that forging ahead with “right to work” legislation risked undermining the progress in labor-management relations in the state and could create a situation similar to Wisconsin, where an ongoing battle over collective bargaining tore the state apart for over a year.
I don’t know much about Gov. Snyder’s personality, but I doubt he will heed these warnings. If he goes ahead and signs the right-to-work legislation, I expect that the GOP’s strength will be wiped out in most of the state, with the exception of some of the Detroit suburbs where auto executives make their home. The Republicans derive a lot of strength in Michigan from a combination of basic social conservatism (especially on the abortion issue) and hostility to Detroit (barely-veiled racial fear and resentment). But I think the culture of unionism trumps the culture of social conservatism. We saw this in recent presidential results in Ohio and Wisconsin, but the phenomenon is much stronger in Michigan.
Going after unions in this way is a sure-fire way to get the so-called Reagan Democrats to drop the Republican Party, and with extreme prejudice.
The failure of Michigan voters to pass the referendum that would have put collective bargaining rights in the state constitution is what opened the door to this lame duck session action.
That failure seems to indicate that being a union state is not as culturally ingrained now as it was in the past.
We will see how many union members get off their bottoms to defend their rights during the coming days.
Information on Proposal 2 that lost 42% to 57%.
Or it is as deeply ingrained as MSU’s Green and White.
From what I have read, this had to be passed now because the new legislature, due to election results, would not have passed it.
As far as the failure of the constitutional amendment to pass, that is probably tied to 2 things. The first is that the Koch brothers poured a lot of money into the state to push against it. The second is that a lot of people don’t necessarily think things such as that should be part of the constitution of the state.
Your last paragraph is right. As much as the unions put into the referendum, I believe they were still vastly outspent by the Koch suckers and their various allies.
The wording of the Bill is all ALEC.
Reported funding was $21.9 million for and $25.9 million against. Not such big difference if the electorate is inclined to vote yes. As Meg Whitman learned, not even twice as much* is sufficient to change voters hearts and minds.
*Discount her $177 million campaign by $100 million to purchase name recognition and the primary. That made it $77 million to $36 million. She lost 41% to 54%.
Republicans will retain a majority in the new session. The difference is that right now the majority is bomb proof for what they’re doing that can override Dem procedural moves, or some such. Next year they lose a few seats enabling the Dems to gum this up I gather.
Michigan is a union state—except it apparently voted in 2010 to give complete control over its state gub’mint to the well-known viciously anti-union Repub party, a party long ago bought and controlled by anti-union plutocrats. Michiganders were unaware of these facts? Attention: This is your state on “conservatism”. It’s not too hard to understand Repubs and predict their plans, really.
The “moderate” Repub Snyder asked his lame duck legislature to pass this, didn’t he? And now he’s not going to sign it? After his Repub brownshirts all stuck their necks out for him? Dream on.
Just like Wisconsinites gave total control of their state to Fuhrer Walker, who pushed thru similar union busting legislation. And who was rewarded in the last election by keeping Repub control over the legislature. Think there won’t be more radical anti-worker, anti-democratic legislation passed there? As AG famously concludes, Bet on it.
Repubs have had many successes during the ongoing Conservative Era—probably the biggest one is their long term demonization of unions and union members. They are now realizing the fruits of their labors, destroying private sector unions in even unionized Yankee states. I suppose the people could “wake up” but I wouldn’t bet on it. Not with the corporate media and 24/7 Right Wing Noise machine to “inform” them.
Author Thomas Frank recently asked “What’s the Matter with Kansas”? That book made not the slightest ripple in Kansas. Now the question has become What’s the Matter with Wisconsin? And Michigan? “Conservatism” ain’t dead by a long shot, no matter how many premature obituaries are written….
You beat me by two minutes, and said it better. What do they think they are going to get? If you don’t like it, stop voting for them.
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It’s no secret that republicans everywhere are anti-union. It’s no secret that republicans everywhere want ‘right to work’ laws on the books.
Yet Michigan has a republican legislature and gov., and union members and their families certainly voted for them.
It does not matter your past. If you have a republican gov. And legislature, you are not a ‘union state’. Your getting exactly what you voted for.
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I think more voters are identifying with the idea of liberty AND hard work / to have individual choice in the matter, which is why this sort of thing stays solid in Wisconsin as well. The average Joe sees his old uber high union pay lost to foreign competition, sees the most politically connected unions getting bailed out while making a mini-van that fell apart at 30k miles vs. his foreign made hatchback that still runs strong with minimal $ input at 130k miles, and thinks to himself — maybe this unionista thing is out of line with reality -it’s killing America as much as the GOP. He looks at the wages and benefits of the average Union Government worker and sees how generous those are and wonders why he should have to work until he’s 80 so they can sunset nice and comfortably on the taxpayers backs.
Meanwhile, some Sally-six-packs weigh this also against corporatism, which is also a wrong that needs to be righted, and therefore is not falling all over herself to vote for the GOP — see Mittens as a shill for that, and while open to local R’s who are more real, will not (if ever) support the GOP in D.C. any time soon.
You’re making it too complicated.
They are voting for them because they are stupid.
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This will be the single, most divisive act by the State government since WWII certainly, perhaps in the history of the State. We are now them and us for the foreseeable future. 2014 will tell the tale regarding whether we are a union State anymore or not. I hope you are right Boo.
I think your flat our wrong.
I hope I’m the one that’s wrong.
We’ll see.
More evidence to support my theory that the US failed the final exam on the 20th century and now must repeat it.
It’s not even remotely veiled – it’s been just shy of a shooting war since at least 1973.
We’ll see what happens in 2014.
I’ll say one thing – if I hear one single other person say “We won in 2012, why don’t the repukes listen?” I will simply become violent. We lost in OH – 13 of 19 Hor are Repukes. PA same, MI same, WI same. We are LOSING bigtime on the state level.
We desperately need to get control of redistricting. We need to go to the Iowa model in IN, WI, MI, PA, NY, and other states. The gerrymandering is creating a very unfair set of districts.
The very rich have their finger on the scale and they won’t let go. Unions may not be able to solve the problem, but it will be solved eventually, one way or another. When you gerrymander districts, suppress voters, rig elections, and buy off officials, people will find another way to “express their discontent.”
My guess is that those very rich will not like the alternate means of expression.