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Subscribe to RSSAs more protests are planned in Michigan over the controversial right-to-work bill, Rep. Hansen Clarke (D-Mich.) tells MSNBC's Thomas Roberts that he's concerned the legislation will "end up cutting wages and benefits for middle-income workers who really need the money right now."
Michigan's congressional delegation met Monday with Gov. Rick Snyder, asking him to veto or at least delay a vote on a "right to work" law moving through the state's legislature.
Democrats and organized labor groups have launched an all-out blitz they are hoping might halt legislation that would establish workers' rights to employment in a workplace without having to join a union. The Republican-held state legislature passed versions of the legislation last week, and are set to bring it up for final consideration as soon as Tuesday.
NBC's Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro discuss the fiscal cliff deadline and President Obama's motives behind his trip to Michigan on Monday.
Snyder, a first-term Republican governor who's fashioned himself as a more pragmatic leader, has said he would sign the bill if it came to his desk.
"We strongly urged the governor to veto the so-called right to work bill, or at a minimum, ask the legislature to delay the vote on it," Sen. Carl Levin said in a conference call to describe Democrats' meeting with the governor. "The governor listened, and he told us that he would 'seriously,' in his words, consider our concerns."
Former Michigan Republican Governor John Engler, who is the president of the business roundtable, joins The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd to talk about President Barack Obama's trip the Michigan, the fiscal cliff, and Michigan's 'right to work' law.
Snyder's office had no immediate reaction to Democrats' characterization of the meeting.
Michigan has become the latest Midwestern epicenter over labor rights as a result of this fight, following Ohio and Wisconsin. The Republican governors of those states led efforts to curb or eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees' unions.
Alex Wong / Getty Images
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin
National Democrats have begun to wade into the fight as well, issuing blistering statements warning against the Michigan proposal. The fight could be elevated further this afternoon, when President Barack Obama visits the Detroit area in a previously-scheduled trip.
Democrats are particularly incensed by a procedural move used by Republican authors of the bill which would prevent the law from being challenged by a statewide referendum. The Democrats who met Monday with Snyder said they had also urged the governor to change that provision, so that the right to work proposal could be brought to a popular vote.
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I think that the governor should 'seriously' consider delaying it...the same way that Mayor Rahm 'seriously' considered lifting the residency requirement for City of Chicago employees.
Union Rats....what gives you the right to take other peoples money if they are not...UNION!!!...
I worked as a union employee once. From my perspective if you are a good worker you never ever need a union. Good workers are hard to find and tough to replace. The union is there to protect the average to below average worker. They make it hard on employers to remove poor performers. I've never had a union job since. As a solid performer, nothing pisses you off more than a lazy co-worker receiving "assistance" from the union. What a bunch of crap.
In the carpentry field unions are great for every employee, lazy workers get laid off. The union does not protect lazy employees in the trade industries. Government employees should not be entitled to a pension. They should pay into a 401k like everyone else and if they do get a pension then no social security.
Veto or Delay a vote ?? Until when ? Until the outcome better suits your agenda or cause ? How about you liberals take your union thugs and move to another state if you don't like it. You can't force people to join your GANG !
The dems have themselves to blame for RTW coming to MI. In November voters were subjected to an attempted power grab by unions that would have made RTW off the table forever. 17% of the workers having the power to place their union contracts above state law was a huge miscalculation by democrats so now you are just facing the music. Just a note to union workers in this state - your union fat cats who have been using your dues to increase their own political power to protect THEM and has nothing to do with you, the sooner you figure that out the better. Once RTW is the law, then maybe they will start working for you. Way to go, MI #24!
Unions are simply un-American. Anyone who cannot see them for what they are : a thinly veiled Communist organization bent on destroying capitalism is either blind, deluded, or loves to be lied to.
Anyone who thinks the right to coherce people into joining a union is paramount to the right to work is a traitor.
24 "Right to Work States 26 to go!!!
Now eliminate all public unions!!!
I'm bprn and raised and a lifetime citizen of Michigan. The Union is why the auto plants in Flint went from 19 active facilities to only 3 that are currently operating. Unions are why Buick had 7000 employees until unions refused to adjust work rules. Now, there is nothing on the Buick site but broken concrete with weeds fighting to break thru the cracks. Where there was a sprawling AC Delco facility coving a few thousand acres, there is nothing today. Why? Because you can't pay a non-skilled worker $60.00/hour in pay and benefits to tighten a lug nut. Or clock in his buddies while they go deer hunting or show up to work obviously drunk and get 7 chances to rehabilitate before finally getting fired.
Even now, when you go into a GM or Chrysler facility...nobody is 'busting their hump' or working remotely hard at thier job. These clowns don't get it and never will.
Unions have reached the point where they are political mouthpieces for the liber machine. If you happen to be Republican, tough luck! Your dues go to the Dems. Period. How is that fair?
Now The Dems are appealing to Republican Govenor Snyder to reconsider signing the 'Right To Work' legislation that will be ready for his signature on Tuesday 12/11/12. I say give those folks the same courtesy that Obama is giving the US House, "Go Fukk yourself!"
You are full of it. The company went to a third world labor market just to make a bigger profit. No corporation cares about its employees only profit. Wake up idiot!
Ya because maybe they got out from under the union BS. I will give you that large corporations don't seem to care for their employees but people have to realize that every time a union negotiates a raise or a new benefit the cost of that product is going to go up so who wins???? I wouldn't call Chuck an idiot because most of his assessments are correct. People must realize that things like wages and benefits cannot continue to skyrocket like they have since WWII. Unions played a very important part of the American worker especially during the industrial revolution when manufacturers used employees as slaves however now we should be at a place where we should be able to control manufactures with purchasing their product or buying someone else's product. The government is really the biggest detriment to the American worker by allowing our jobs to go overseas, by not applying import tariffs on cheap goods coming into the US and by allowing millions of illegals to come in the US and take away jobs.
Right to work laws simply state that employement is not contingent on whether you join the union upon employment or LEAVE a unioin upon employement.
Sorry to all those who oppose the law, but trying to stop a law like this is simple employment coersion. No one, EVER, should have their union status considered as part of the employement process.
Right to work laws simply state that employement is not contingent on whether you join the union upon employment or LEAVE a unioin upon employement.
Sorry to all those who oppose the law, but trying to stop a law like this is simple employment coersion. No one, EVER, should have their union status considered as part of the employement process.
I think every state should be a right to work state. I consider my self a Democrat, but I don't agree with having to pay some union group to be able to have a job. The unions stifle competition between workers preventing the better employee from getting the raises and the advancement. They also in many cases have prevented the company from getting rid of employees that are nothing but dead weight. The right to work states are the one's that will have all the manufacturing jobs in the future.
Baloney. If it weren't for Unions we would be working for Ten cents an hour. Look at these Businesses that send our jobs to India where they have Nine year old kids working for nine cents an hour. This Snyder should get the Bums rush out the door.
Tarzan that is BS .....Approx 1/2 the states are right to work states ....and as far as I can tell employees are doing just fine. In fact in most cases they are doing better.
What's baloney is pretending that we'd somehow end up working for 10 cents an hour today if unions went by the wayside.
Why should i have to join a union if i don't want to? Why can't i just work at a job for which i'm qualified, earn raises based on said qualifications, or perhaps not earn raises because my qualifications aren't quite up to snuff, thereby inspiring me to work harder, and at the end of the day relax knowing that i did my best, i didn't just punch a time clock, knowing full well that the quality of my work would have zero effect on my recompense. where is the impetus to improve if all rewards are based on time in service, not quality of service? where is the job security if you never know when somebody ELSE may get pissed off at your boss, requiring you to not show up at work, and instead walk a picket line? Why sacrifice my child's education for a 1% pay raise that i didn't earn, the state doesn't have, and i seriously could figure out a way to live without for another year, if that just might help the school district provide a little better education for the kids? when did it all become "what's in it for me?" and not so much "United We Stand?"
Organized labor in the public sector (or private sector) does share the wealth with the rest who don't join the union. Organized labor unions are a protection for the midle class and lower income folks..of course big business wants to get rid of this..actually they would prefer not to pay anyone really and have the single most lowest paid person doing the job..I see this as actually cutting their own throats in the long run. Nurses (for instance) are being replaced by medical assistants or folks like this to care for sick folks in hospitals...so they don't have the pay the big salaries. They want unskilled folks working at Burger King..they want unskilled workers in the labor force in many industries so they can pay them whatever they want. This I see as the dismiss of the middle class.
YAWN!!!
Start the Recall process going and next time Don't vote for a Republican. When the Hell are people going to learn that the Repulicans work for the good of the Wealthy and Big corporations ONLY. Wake up America and Abolish the Republican Party.
when the big corporations and the wealthy all go away who will be left to pay the taxes???? They wont be here.....ask how Greeece is doing?
Fu*k the unions and the democrats, republicans also, don't want to leave anyone out.
You forgot moderates ....The fence sitters who don't know whether to sh!t or go blind ....
Will comrade obama tour A123 battery plant around the corner and acknowledge his green failures???
Right to work will kill the unions!. I believe in collective bargaining, however, No Government employee should get a pension.!!! Everyone can pay into a 401K like the rest of the country does. Unions though should stay in place to help negotiate a fair wage and bennies.
Not all of the rest of the country those in DC don't pay into their own retirement fund. Do you think it is kind of a carry over so people won't get too mad at those jerks for getting free retirement???????
When will the Democrats realize that Unions are obsolete? MANY decades ago they were very useful. They worked with Congress to help pass legislation to improve working conditions, but since the major union corruption scandals of the 1950's, they have been exposed as nothing but political machines, pumping millions of dollars into funding the campaigns of Democrats. Private sector union membership has been declining since the 1950's, where it peaked about 34%, and is now below 7%. Seems to me that this just shows that most people are not interested in joining a useless union.
There is nothing to fear from right-to-work laws. Unless you actually fear working.
BEST...POST...EVER!!!
Its one thing to pass a bill, but to attach a provision that keeps it from being voted on in a referendum by the people? This is blatant fascism. The union members drawing union wages and union scale paychecks that vote rebublican are the worst kind of traitors, they should all be tarred and feathered! They are worse than a scab!
Hilarious. Michigan is washed up. The unions of the industries there as well as their pathetic management drove that state into collapse. Still, everyone is fighting over what rights workers should have. Relatively speaking, what workers? Keep going Michigan. Pretty soon your workers will be no more. Just ask Detroit. When are they filing for bankruptcy? You all act as if the US has the clout to set a decent standard of living. Uh,no. That standard of living is now being set by our competition overseas. We cant afford the $30/hr assembly line worker anymore. China has eliminated that option. You all better think of competitive ways to attract business. As of right now, business does not know who Michigan is.
Damn. Obama won. That means Obamacare. What can we do to avoid paying healthcare? Bring in the SCABS!
Let's hire people willing to throw away any rights that might give them a living wage or healthcare. Just above minimum wage and not quite enough hours to qualify for benefits should do it. We'll just hire more people and rotate them. Hey it's better than McDonald's right? Divide and Conquer and watch the power of the Unions wither and be vanquished. Same amount of widgets produced with less capital outlay. Brilliant! This looks GREAT on paper. Too bad the names of all the people being shafted and kept in poverty aren't ON that paper!
Workers rights ha, we will force you to join the union!
Yea, the right to work for nothing for 19 years then be fired a week before retirement. The right to work for minimal pay with food stamps and no healthcare. Bend over right to work suckers and join these southern fools, and keep voting republican, Sucker. WAKEUPAMERICA, or Loose.
I would much rather be a trough feeder like you.
And how many of our traitorous union brothers cast votes for these fascists republicans? They should be hunted down, and expelled from their unions!
Love Poverty and vote Republican. hahaha. WAKEUPAMERICA. please. Cum down south with these idiots.