Mad Jack agitates for actions in a Legislature he no longer serves in

Right to Work

If they decided to push through Right to Work (for Less) in the lame duck - and there seems to be a major push and mostly by those not currently in the legislature  to do this - heaven will be brought down on their heads.  They thought the protests and turmoil was bad in Wisconsin; just wait until they bring this to the home of the Flint Sit-Down.

You know, people right and left say that November 6 was a bad day for labor, and I don't entirely disagree.  But, while Two went down, people seem to be forgetting that the heavily union-backed One passed, if even narrowly.  The message was mixed, at best, and if you ask me, if anything is to be concluded it's that you don't mess with the status quo via the constitution, and that favors unions to a certain extent.  

It is rare to have a law repealed, and yet the failure of one is barely talked about and we keep getting bullshit media narratives about how Snyder was the "big winner" of the election.

Trust me, if they pass a Right to Work bill and are stupid enough to make an appropriation bill of it, that thing will be repealed more quickly and forcefully than you can utter "relentless positive action."  You thought the margins were big when Ohio appealed their overreach, last year?  Just wait if it has to get to that in Michigan and the number of folks that will be recalled for supporting it.  Jase is hanging on to his speakership and seat by a tenuous thread with this criminal investigation hanging over him.  He doesn't want this fight.  He shouldn't want this fight and Richardville better talk him down from the wall.

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by: MiddleGrandGuy @ Mon Nov 19, 2012 at 01:41:28 AM UTC

Currently, GOP has the votes to do it.

The way I see it, this current group of Republican legislators has already shown its willingness to pass legislation "because they can" on several occasions, so why wouldn't they interpret the results on Proposal 2 as a mandate to do whatever the hell they feel like doing?  Until they get swatted down in a concrete fashion, why shouldn't they think that MI voters are 110% behind them?  After all the ferocious protests in WI last year, has Scott Walker paid a serious price yet (other than the recall of a few state senators)?  Maybe he'll lose decisively in 2014, but until then, there's been little cost to him.

At this point there is little to do but "let the wild rumpus begin".  In Michigan at least, the GOP has no fear.

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by: DemfromMidland @ Mon Nov 19, 2012 at 04:13:01 AM UTC

A RTW or Open Shop Law would share the fate of PA 4

If the legislature enacts a right-to-work or open shop law, I expect it to be repealed by a bigger margin than PA 4.  It would be a right-wing counterattack for the proposals, 2 and 4, to amend the constitution.

The smarter strategy is to continue to find ways to make the jobs of unions harder.  The control of the state of local school budgets with similar influence over local government budgets has resulted in compensation cuts by placing the public employee unions in the position of depriving these local entities of money from the state if they do not agree to the cuts.  This budget leverage by the state government threatens home rule in Michigan.  Yet, the associations of local school districts and municipal and county governments have not done enough to resist this and restore their authority.

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by: Jim Brazier @ Mon Nov 19, 2012 at 23:21:18 PM UTC

I doubt it

They'll just attach an appropriation to the bill and avoid the referendum possibility entirely.

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by: Seth9 @ Tue Nov 20, 2012 at 01:57:58 AM UTC

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