Tag: Utopia

Schauer proposes hiking state minimum wage to $9.25 an hour

In the mean time, Rick Snyder's MEDC and Gary Peters are tirelessly working for Corporate Welfare schemes.

Where else can the feel good elitist Lefties spend taxpayer money anymore with nary a peep from the paying-forever class.

Parks programs are a great excuse to build dynasties, develop social connections, ensure a support base for political aspirees.  But who can argue against the 'healthy impact' a strong parks and rec program has on your local community? The claims are ever-so-common, and made by those who operate such programs, yet would be hard pressed to prove such assertions if actually challenged.

Mission creep within a department assigned to make accessible park and land resources owned by a local municipality, is near guaranteed when operators or directors discover the ultimate weakness of their Parks & Rec degrees.  That a degree earned while squandering 4 to 6 years away in our taxpayer subsidized university systems has little to no value in the real world, except where people are too busy to note the difference between government programming and individual initiative.

For SE Michigan, it will be ALL of Michigan's taxpayers who will be soon footing the bill for programming and access they will never use.   In Grand traverse County, the political will to support such 'programming' in our parks is about to be tested.

To which I say, "About damned time".

The union-backed proposal known as "Protect Our Jobs" has mostly been sold as enshrining collective bargaining privileges into the Michigan Constitution and fending off a right-to-work law that could be passed at some point in the future.

These points are being debated by both sides, but the main effect of the POJA initiative being passed by voters in November is far less known and would do far more damage than either of the typically discussed positions.

Tucked into the middle, part of the union petition reads, "No existing or future law of the state or its political subdivisions shall abridge, impair or limit" unions' ability to "negotiate in good faith regarding wages, hours, and other terms and conditions of employment. ... "

In short: Aside from a couple exceptions, no state law past, present or future could limit what government union officials could win in labor contracts.

Rest here

Many might have missed this.  Some things need to be reported a little differently:

"Despite repeated claims from POJ spokesman Dan Lijana in statements to the media, from union attorney Andrew Nickelhoff in court and in legal filings, and from the Michigan Democratic Party on a recent television commercial that "nearly 700,000" signatures were submitted to support the union-boss ballot proposal, according to the official staff report from the Michigan Secretary of State only 554,375 signatures were submitted.  Elections staff further estimated that fewer than 490,000 of those signatures were valid."

OK never mind that.

At least POJ has the backing of the larger business community as a whole. I mean even when you take out the hobby businesses of labor boss wives, the liquor depots, other businesses on special 'insurance' plans, and tattoo parlors, you still would be close to the majority of business owners wanting a union takeover of our government, right? Heck, as POJ reports:

"Today, the Protect Our Jobs campaign announced that more than 500 small business owners across Michigan support the right of working families to collectively bargain.

"Michigan's working families are the backbone of my business," said Torry Banks, owner of Art of Rugs in Detroit. "When they can negotiate a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, it improves my bottom line."

...

Small businesses feel the pinch when corporate special interests ship jobs overseas.

"Collective bargaining lifts wages for everyone and when working families have more income, they spend it at small businesses in their communities," said Mary Apps, owner of Fraser Flower and Gifts. "That helps us invest in our businesses and the surrounding community, strengthening our ties."

So is their adding machine.

Given the 377 "endorsements" listed on their FULL Listing.(I have saved a list for reference in excel format) The 500 figure is somewhat like a presidential mileage mandate.  "YOU ARE 500, DARN YOU!"  and poof.