Political News and Commentary with the Right Perspective. NAVIGATION
  • Front Page
  • News
  • Multimedia
  • Tags
  • RSS Feed


  • Advertise on RightMichigan.com


    NEWS TIPS!

    Get the RightMighigan.com toolbar!


    RightMichigan.com

    Buzz

    Who are the NERD fund donors Mr Snyder?

    Raise the curtain.

    Right to Work


    By Wendy Day, Section News
    Posted on Mon Nov 17, 2008 at 08:35:25 PM EST
    Tags: (all tags)

    (Promoted by Nick...)

    Facing down the potential multi-billion dollar bailout of the Big Three, it seems this is the perfect time to have the discussion of making Michigan a Right to Work State.  

    Making Michigan a Right to Work State would not only help the Big Three, it would help our schools and the Union members, like me, who are forced to join a Union and pay dues for services I don't want or need.
    Read on...

    When you bring up Right to Work, the reply is often, "That will never happen in my lifetime."  My question is, "Why not?"  

    Idaho is a Right to Work state, as is Arizona.  According to about.com

    Arizona is a Right to Work state. Often there is confusion as to what that means. Many people believe it means that you can be fired from your job without explanation, and they are,  therefore, reluctant to live and work in a Right to Work state. That is not the basis of the Right to Work concept.

    A Right to Work law guarantees that no person can be compelled, as a condition of employment, to join or not to join, or to pay dues to a labor union. In other words, if you work in a Right to Work state, like Arizona, and the employees form a union, you may not be fired if you decide not to join.

    Likewise, if you are a member of a union in a Right to Work state, and you decide to resign from the union, you may not be fired for that reason.

    Here is how Arizona's Constitution, article XXV, reads:

    Right to work or employment without membership in labor organization

    No person shall be denied the opportunity to obtain or retain employment because of non-membership in a labor organization, nor shall the State or any subdivision thereof, or any corporation, individual or association of any kind enter into any agreement, written or oral, which excludes any person from employment or continuation of employment because of non-membership in a labor organization. (Addition approved election Nov. 5, 1946, eff. Nov. 25, 1946; amended November 30, 1982.)

    The statutes relating to Right to Work in Arizona can be found in Arizona Revised Statutes Title 23-1301 through 1307.

    Michigan can become a Right to Work State too.  If the Federal Government is going to use my tax dollars to bail out these companies, I think there should be some strings attached.  Let's not give them a "Loan to nowhere".  

    We can't just let these companies fail, or at least without devastating consequences.  However, throwing good money after bad isn't a good idea either.  

    The unionized monopoly education system in Michigan is financially broken.  The auto makers can't possibly compete with their non-union competitors and are now asking for the taxpayers to foot the bill their business activities.  One thing these two industries share is mandatory union membership.

    As a member of the MEA, I completely support the idea of changing Michigan to a Right to Work State.  Yes, I can opt out of paying my dues, but only if I go before a panel of the MEA and prove me convictions are religious and not political.  If I don't pass the test, they won't let me out of paying dues. If I due pass the test, I still have to pay and the money is given to a charity.  There are thousands of union members in Michigan who are not happy with their dues being spent directly and indirectly on political activities for candidates and issues they don't support.  

    Our lame-duck legislature should seriously look at using this time to fundamentally improve the business climate in Michigan by making Michigan a Right to Work State.  We need bold leadership.  We need fearless change.   The time for Right to Work is here.   I want the right to work, and the right to do so without being a member of a union.

    < A Quick Summary for Factor Viewers | Ah, Granholm - Cherry's Michigan, where even healthcare jobs go to die >


    Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit


    Display: Sort:
    UAW biggest loser from bankruptcy (none / 0) (#1)
    by Hayekian on Mon Nov 17, 2008 at 09:18:55 PM EST
    . . . and UAW big winner from a bailout. For a while.

    Bankruptcy, not bailouts, is what will allow GM to find new life as a viable competitor in the world market. But it will cripple the UAW. RTW in Michigan then becomes a real possibility.

    Viable Alternatives (none / 0) (#2)
    by live dangerously on Tue Nov 18, 2008 at 09:46:54 AM EST
    Thanks for the nice article Wendy Day.  

    I'm always looking for viable alternatives to Failed Liberal Policies that will better help me with people in my precinct about why I'm a Republican.  Why they might consider becoming one too.  I'm trying to compile a dictionary of sorts of the Conservative Language.  A Dictionary of Conservativeese if you will.

    The Labor entry will have Right to Work in it.

    Thanks, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative

    They are their own enemy. (none / 0) (#3)
    by LookingforReagan on Tue Nov 18, 2008 at 04:38:09 PM EST
    As a former non-voluntary member of the Unreasonable Auto Workers there is one thing that comes to mind. The UAW is the largest killer of jobs and potential jobs that has ever existed. I was a third generation member of that sad organization. My grandfather was at Ford when the union organized in the thirties. My mother was a member and President of her local.
    I understand the union mentality. Can anyone name the number of auto plants and other industries that have rejected Michigan as a place from which to do business? Here are just a few.
    The Nissan plant in Smyrna, TN was it was said interested many years ago in locating in Battle Creek Michigan. A sales agreement for 200 acres of land in the cities industrial park had been signed. They chose Tennessee. The most recent loss for a new auto plant is the VW plant that will go to Indiana. The Mazada plant that was over in the Detroit metro area was closed.
    Dalmer-Benz wouldn't even consider Michigan when they were looking to build in the US, choosing instead the Carolinas. Alabama has two or three auto plants that have opened in the last five years.
    Michigan is a tainted product. One reason is the unions. They have way more political power then their current membership would equate. The UAW had several million members in the early 1970s when I was forced to join. Now they have less then 500,000 simply because the jobs that their members would fill have gone to states where the work force has a real choice. That is something that of course Democrats and their union thug buddies want to change by returning to their billy club organizing tactics from the thirties. If given a choice most workers would opt out of union membership. But as we know the only choice the Socialist want to give anyone is when it concerns a womans right to commit the murder of her unborn child.
    Given the option Michigan workers understand the choice they would have if indeed they had that choice.
    One place that the union killed recently was place that I used to work. Started in 1917 United Steel and Wire Company was at the time I started there the largest producer of shopping carts and store fixtures in the world. The old wire milk cases that the milk man delivered dairy products in to peoples homes were made by the company. In the late sixites they pioneered the plastic dairy case producing millions each year. Things had been going poorly and the company was bought by a rival based in Virginia. The bottom line was. The Michigan shop was a union shop and therefore labor costs were higher. 140 more jobs died because of Granholm, Democrats and the UAW. Until the power of this enity is broken for once and for good nothing will get better in this state. Why put up with the hassel? Non-union members make high quality products as well. And those workers can advance with merit raises and bonuses that are not allowed in a labor contrat environment. Once you agree to accept the concept of unionism you are relagating yourself to the mediocraty that is the hallmark of the US labor movement.

    Display: Sort:

    Login

    Make a new account

    Username:
    Password:
    Tweet along with RightMichigan by
    following us on Twitter HERE!

    Related Links

    + Also by Wendy Day
    create account | faq | search