Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Visits Michigan as Special Interests Pressure Michigan Courts to Prevent Collective Bargaining Vote

From Michigan Democratic Party:

“Corporate Special Interest Badger Man” Character Trails Walker Through Michigan

LANSING – As corporate special interests are “badgering” Michigan’s courts to keep collective bargaining off the ballot, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker campaigned in Michigan today — with “Corporate Special Interest Badger Man” hot on his heels.

“It’s hard to believe that Scott Walker, Wisconsin’s governor who fought against working families and collective bargaining in his own state, is now stumping here in Michigan,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer. “His timing and status as the poster child for corporate special interests couldn’t be worse, as Governor Snyder and Attorney General Schuette are attempting to silence voters on the question of collective bargaining. Voters should stand up to the corporate special interests that are trying to pressure the courts against a vote.”

Walker campaigned for the Romney/Ryan campaign at the Cityscape Events Center in Kalamazoo and the DeVos Place Convention Center in Grand Rapids today. The Michigan Democratic Party’s “Corporate Special Interests Badger Man” followed Walker and shared information with voters about how corporate special interests are pressuring Lansing politicians and the courts to keep the issue of collective bargaining off November’s ballot.

Walker won a heated recall election in June, after igniting public outcry over his controversial plans to eliminate collective bargaining rights for working people in Wisconsin. Amway heir and CEO Dick DeVos helped secure Walker’s victory in the recall election by contributing a whopping $250,000 to Walker’s massive $30.5 million campaign, which was heavily influenced by out-of-state corporate special interests.

DeVos has also donated substantial funds to the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, which opposes Protect Our Jobs, a campaign to win collective bargaining rights for Michigan’s working families.

Now Attorney General Bill Schuette and Governor Snyder are engaging in unprecedented actions to prevent this measure from being placed on the ballot and deny citizens their right to vote. Schuette submitted a faulty and politically motivated opinion to the Board of Canvassers opposing the measure, directly contradicting a 2004 decision he supported as a member of the Court of Appeals.

Last week, the Board of Canvassers deadlocked along party lines when considering the initiative and yesterday, the Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on the initiative’s future.

The Protect Our Jobs initiative is no different than any of the constitutional amendments considered in recent years, such as stem cell research and affirmative action. The proposal adds one new section to the constitution and amends another.

On Tuesday, the Michigan Democratic Party released a new television commercial, “Law,” which encourages Michigan citizens to stand up to the corporate special interests. Voters can visit www.LetMIvote.com to sign a petition to protect their voice, as well as learn more about collective bargaining.

Collective bargaining benefits us all by bringing workers and management together to negotiate fair wages and benefits, safer working conditions and protection from arbitrary decisions by employers.

Miller Votes Against Collective Bargaining Rights

by John Tramontana

Joining her Republican colleagues in Michigan and across the country in their attack on collective bargaining, Michigan Congresswoman Candice Miller voted to strip away collective bargaining rights. Miller voted against an amendment which would have protected collective bargaining rights at airline and railway companies (HR 658, Roll Call 217, 4/1/11). “Her vote is very anti-worker and takes away the right of collective bargaining,” Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer said. “Congresswoman Miller should be ashamed of her decision to take away the rights of workers – especially in a struggling economy.” “We need to be protecting workers and making sure they have the ability to pay their mortgages and feed their families,” continued Brewer. “Unfortunately, both Michigan and national Republicans like Rick Snyder and Candice Miller are instead denying the right to collectively bargain.”

DeMint Tells ThinkProgress He Wants To Strip All Federal Employees Of Collective Bargaining Rights

By Scott Keyes

The defining political story three months into 2011 is the spread of anti-union legislation in the states. Now, a leading senator on the right wants to eliminate collective bargaining rights at a federal level.

During an interview with ThinkProgress in Des Moines this weekend, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), a leader of the Tea Party movement and veritable kingmaker for conservative candidates, made no bones about his desire to diminish the power of public employees. DeMint told ThinkProgress that he “doesn’t believe collective bargaining has any place in government…including at the federal level.” The South Carolina senator then went on to call public employees’ unions an “unelected third party” that enjoyed “monopoly power” in negotiations. “It just doesn’t make any sense,” DeMint quipped:

KEYES: Senator, would you like to see some of these bills that we see at a state level curbing the collective bargaining rights of public employees’ unions, would you like to see those on a federal level?

DeMINT: I don’t believe collective bargaining has any place in government.

KEYES: Including at a federal level?

DeMINT: Including at the federal level. That’s what elections are, collective bargaining, for people who are [inaudible]. I think it just doesn’t make sense. When we’re elected as representatives, to determine the fiscal condition of the government, then to have an unelected third party bargaining at the table with monopoly power, it just doesn’t make any sense.

Watch it:

Currently, most federal public employees – with the exception of the postal service and some others – are only permitted to collectively bargain to improve their working conditions (their pay and benefits are set by Congress). However, DeMint is apparently seeking to take away even the meager rights that federal employees currently have.

The South Carolina Republican’s push to strip public employees’ unions of all their collective bargaining rights is part of a larger battle by the GOP against labor unions. Currently, the right is targeting labor unions in states across the country, from Maine to Missouri and elsewhere, with nearly-identical legislation crafted by the Koch-fundedAmerican Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Earlier this month, Wisconsin State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) even admitted to Fox News on air that the goal is to defund labor unions and hurt President Obama’s reelection chances.

Now, as the fight over public unions expands to more states, Sen. Jim DeMint is picking up the torch for at a federal level.

M.C.L Comment: For those liberals who are planning to replay their brilliant plan of teaching President Obama and the remaining Democrats a lesson look need to look at this.

Strong Plurality Of Michigan Voters Support Amending State Constitution To Protect Collective Bargaining

By Ian Millhiser

Last November, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) won a decisive 18 point victory in his race for the governor’s mansion. Yet after less than three months of draconian budget proposals andunconstitutional assaults on collective bargaining, Snyder is hurting. A new poll finds that Snyder would lose his election if it were held today, and that a strong plurality of the state would supportamending the state constitution to prevent Snyder from continuing his anti-union agenda:

Snyder’s also earned the ire of the voters because of the perception that he’s targeting collective bargaining rights. 59% of folks in Michigan think that public employees should have the right to collective bargaining while only 32% are opposed, and 49% of voters even favor a state constitutional amendment to guarantee collective bargaining rights while 37% are opposed to such a measure. While union households are obviously the most supportive of collective bargaining, nonunion households support it by a 53/39 margin as well so the voters Snyder is antagonizing on this issue go beyond who you might expect.

As ThinkProgress previously explained, Michigan voters can amend the state constitution by petition and referendum. Just 10 percent of the electorate can place an amendment protecting collective bargaining on the ballot, and a simple majority of the electorate can turn it into law.

M.C.L Comment: I've told people don't let that " I just want to help" bullshit fool you because there is a reason he's running on the Republican side. And now you see why he avoided debates especially those with Virg Bernero because that fluffy marshmallow rhetoric he spew in his ads wouldn't help him in the debates where he had to tell people how he's going to balance the budget and what were his priorities in detail. And you see what the media that enable his victory is trying to do, they're either not talking about what Snyder wants to do or if you're Huel Perkins or Timmy Skubick you spin it.

Rachel Maddow and Randi Rhodes had did more reporting on Snyder's budget and his EFM scam than the entire state of Michigan media combine.

Gov. Walker Misleadingly Claims His Union-Busting Bill Doesn’t End Collective Bargaining

By Pat Garofalo

The protests over Gov. Scott Walker’s (R-WI) legislative assault on public sector workers continue today, after Wisconsin police refused to evict protesters from the Wisconsin Capitol last night. Walker himself is going on a media tour, appearing on Meet the Press yesterday, as well as a statewide news magazine show, “Upfront With Mike Gousha.”

During the latter interview, Walker claimed that his “budget repair bill,” which actually has little to do with balancing Wisconsin’s budget, does not end collective bargaining for public employees, but only “narrow[s] it down”:

Q: Very briefly, do you see any need for public employee unions in this state, philosophically?

WALKER: If I didn’t, I would have eliminated collective bargaining all over.

Q: Did you think about that?

WALKER: We looked at every option. But in this case we said we could narrow it down, still have a role for collective bargaining, still have a role for public employee unions, but cap it in so that the taxpayers aren’t trumped in by the decision we currently see with collective bargaining.

Watch it:

Walker is making this claim because his budget repair bill would still allow workers to “negotiate” for their wages: under a cap that Walker and the Republican legislature want to set in stone. This is clearly not “collective bargaining” in any real sense of the word, since public employees would already have strict limits imposed upon them before they even get to the bargaining table. Plus, restricting collective bargaining to only wages means that the employer can simply change other elements of worker compensation (like slashing benefits) to make up for any wage increases, without workers having any say about it.

Walker’s goal is simply to bust public employee unions, which is exactly what happened in Indiana after Gov. Mitch Daniels (R) ended collective bargaining for public employees:

If there is one thing the two sides agree on, it’s that an end to collective bargaining will lead to far weaker public sector unions. Mr. Daniels said that after he banned bargaining, membership in the unions for state workers nosedived by 90 percent, with workers deciding it was no longer worth paying dues to newly toothless unions.

Under Walker’s bill, not only would workers lose their collective bargaining rights in all but name, they would also be subject to protections against unfair firings that are “far weaker and narrower than union protections.”

This is not the first time that Walker has tried to mislead the public about the practical implications of his union-busting effort. In fact, earlier this month, he ludicrously claimed that under his proposal “collective bargaining is fully intact.”