Lansing Outgunned in Legislature, Mich. unions fight back

By Tim Martin Associated Press LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- After more than a year of what they consider continuous Republican-led policy attacks, Michigan unions are fighting back with a sweeping proposal that would enshrine collective bargaining rights in the state constitution and put them beyond the reach of state lawmakers. The measure would serve as a pre-emptive strike against a possible right-to-work movement in Michigan, and potentially could undo some of what the state Legislature has done in the past 14 months related to unions and bargaining powers. It also could serve as a get-out-the-vote rallying point for Democrats as they seek to re-elect President Barack Obama this fall. The proposed constitutional amendment may be one of the few weapons readily available for Michigan labor leaders and Democrats, currently all but powerless to stop bills they don't like in the Republican-led Legislature. It follows union-fueled initiatives in Ohio to turn back a state law that curbed collective bargaining rights for public employees and an ongoing attempt in Wisconsin to recall the state's Republican governor. "Maybe in other states they're doing this in different ways, but we thought this is the best solution for us here," said John Armelagos, a registered nurse from Ann Arbor who serves as treasurer of the Protect Our Jobs coalition. Union members and other supporters would need to collect at least 322,609 valid voter signatures by early July to put the proposed constitutional amendment before Michigan voters in November. The measure reads that "no existing or future law of the state ... shall abridge, impair or limit" the collective bargaining rights outlined in the proposal. That could nullify possible Michigan efforts to pass a right-to-work law, which would prohibit labor contracts that require workers to pay union representation fees. Michigan Republicans are divided on the issue, but debate has intensified since Indiana recently became the first Rust Belt state to adopt such a measure. The proposed constitutional amendment also might threaten other measures that the Legislature already has passed. A bill that would prohibit public schools from automatically deducting employee union dues from paychecks is headed to Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, as is a measure that would ban graduate student research assistants at public universities from unionizing. It's possible that a law weakening the significance of teacher tenure could be challenged if voters were to approve the constitutional amendment. Even parts of the state's emergency manager law -- which gives the state-appointed officials power to toss out union contracts in financially struggling cities and schools -- might be in jeopardy if the union-backed plan is approved. Republican have long controlled the Michigan Senate, and they regained the House and the governor's office in the 2010 election. Republicans now have a 26-12 advantage over Democrats in the Senate, and a 63-47 cushion in the House. Republicans say the union proposal is a power grab that could undermine efforts to control government spending and revitalize Michigan's economy with employer-friendly reforms. And by putting certain collective bargaining powers in the constitution, the measure would leave lawmakers unable to affect them without supermajorities or help from voters. "It essentially says anything and everything that could be addressed in a contract can't be touched by state law or legislative action," said Ari Adler, a spokesman for Republican House Speaker Jase Bolger. Amber McCann, a spokeswoman for Republican Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, said the broadly written measure goes "way beyond protecting basic rights of workers." McCann said the measure appears to be aimed at "protecting the unions and the institution of the union, and preserving status quo for union bosses -- not really focused on the worker, but focused on the actual bureaucracy of the union." Snyder, who has said he doesn't want a right-to-work bill sent to his desk because it would be divisive, feels the same way about the union-proposed constitutional amendment. Snyder said collective bargaining already is "working well" in Michigan. "It's not the right path," Snyder said of the proposal. "So I just hope people think about it to ask: Is it the right thing to pursue?" Republicans say their proposals aren't anti-union, but rather are pro-taxpayer and geared toward job creation. Democrats disagree, saying some of the Republican measures are nothing more than thinly veiled attacks at organized labor. Democratic lawmakers summed up the frustration when Republicans narrowly approved the bill banning schools from collecting union dues through automatic paycheck deductions, a measure approved one day after unions announced the Protect Our Jobs campaign. Democrats said the bill had no economic benefits, but was simply aimed at making it more difficult for teachers' unions to collect dues. "Every other day it's an another anti-union bill -- we're going to take this away from them, we're going to take that away from them," Sen. Coleman Young II, a Democrat from Detroit, told Senate colleagues. "This policy of death by a thousand cuts to labor unions is fundamentally wrong. ... "When you usurp; when you take; when you fundamentally snatch away from the people their rights, there are consequences for that. I am here to let everybody know and put you on notice that if you continue to do this to the people, there will be a ubiquitous uprising that will be heard as far down as the core of the earth and as high as the cosmos. They will say with one resounding voice that we will not take this type of usurpation of our rights anymore." Published: Thu, Mar 15, 2012