| So, we have Right to Work in this state, correct? The idea is to provide maximum freedom to workers, so that they can work and reap the benefits of union membership without actually having to contribute financially to support it. A banner day for takers everywhere! The working idea is that local bargaining units and local management teams should be able to negotiate on their own, using tools provided the state but without the meddling of anyone else. Let locals make local decisions, after all. Right, well, first it started with Tom McMillin, who doesn't think local communities ought to be allowed to prohibit discrimination against members of the LGBT community, who also thinks that the state ought to be really concerned how long local school districts contract with local teachers unions to provide services. Then, today, news reaches me that the Mackinac Center's legal fund is putting its money behind three teachers from the Taylor schools who say they want to freeload off the union, but feel the district abrogated their rights by signing a 10-year contract with the local teachers' union. You've probably seen the news, because Progress Michigan released something and so did Doug Geisse, the House Democrat who represents Taylor, as did a couple of people. I think the Mackinac Center even did something in CapCon. This, I think, illustrates that the issue is not actually freedom to these people, but a dislike of unions. If it as about freedom, they'd let the people in the Taylor School District attend to their own affairs by permitting the local school board enter into whatever length contract it feels it is comfortable entering into with the local bargaining unit. |
