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| "Hey hey, ho ho! Your right to work has got to go!" |
Dec. 11, 2011 - The Republican-led Michigan House chamber today approved the first of two right-to-work bills that address public-sector unions by a vote of 58-51. As many as 10,000 pro-union, anti-choice activists protested outside the capitol building in Lansing by waving signs, shouting vulgar slogans, and using violence against those who support the right-to-work legislation.
There was some violence-tinged rhetoric from Democrat legislators inside the House chamber. Just before the vote was taken,
“There will be blood,” said Representative Douglas Geiss, a Democrat from Taylor,
reports Bloomberg News. Geiss made that disturbing remark during the pre-vote debate. After the vote, a 55-year-old UAW member protesting outside said that the right-to-work law will
"create civil war."
Police had to control angry union thugs who became violent, Bloomberg News says. "Supporters and opponents clashed, with protesters tearing down a tent set up by Americans for Prosperity, overturning tables and stamping on signs. Police on foot and horseback charged through the crowd pushing them back with batons."
A second bill that deals with private sector unions still needs to be acted upon. The Senate approved both last week. "If enacted," says
The Washington Post, "Gov. Rick Snyder says he will sign them into law as early as Wednesday."
Former community organizer Barack Obama visited Detroit on Monday and made some predictable pro-union remarks.
“What they’re really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money,” Obama
told unionized workers at the Detroit Diesel plant. But of course, as usual, Obama got that backwards. What the right-to-work laws
do make it possible is for someone seeking work to get it without being required to join a union. That means workplaces will no longer be, in effect, a members-only environment. People wanting to work at Detroit Diesel, for example, will no longer be forced to shell out a chunk of their paycheck as union dues to maintain the union bosses' six-figure salaries. It means,
contrary to what Obama said, that people who would otherwise not be allowed to work will be able to, thereby acquiring to the right to work for money - rather than remain unemployed.
The stupidity of Obama's remarks were nailed by an op-ed in
The Detroit Free Press :
Where Obama faltered on Tuesday was with his too-cute applause line, “What they’re really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money.” That’s a reference to data, oft-cited by unions, showing that most right-to-work states have lower incomes than the U.S. average.
Unfortunately, the personal income and employment trends for Michigan are more troublesome for those who argue that states with more union members do a better job of protecting workers’ jobs and incomes.
In the year 2000, Michigan ranked 16th among U.S. states in personal income per capita. Now it’s in 36th place. During many of the past dozen years, Michigan had the nation’s highest jobless rate. We’ve improved a bit the past couple years, but only to 6th worst with a 9.1% rate.
Michigan, therefore, is hardly a poster child lately for correlating higher unionization levels — 17.5% here vs. 11.8% nationwide — with high incomes or job security.
The Left and their union allies believe that individual freedom to work without being forced to join a union is bad. Your right to not have a chunk of your paycheck stolen by a union of which you are not a member is bad. The mainstream media today is trumpeting the 'outrage over right-to-work.' Think about that. Outrage. Over people's right to work without a union forcing them to join or pay dues."
If you favor the right of people to work without being coerced into joining a union, the union thugs and their supporters on the Left will threaten you.
Post continues below the video....
James Hoffa, Teamsters union president said, "We've got a war on workers, and we've been talking about this a long time. It was in Wisconsin, it was in Ohio and now it came here. They want a fight? We'll give them a fight. We're going to kick their ass, and we'll win this battle here. Rick Snyder campaigned as the nerd, now we know he's a weak nerd, and you know what, he's for sale. I got news for you, Governor: Michigan is not for sale. You can't buy Michigan."
Leave it to a union boss like Hoffa to use a crude reference to physical violence. The governor is "a weak nerd," he said, but Hoffa just got his own ass kicked hard and handed to him by Gov. Snyder and the Republicans in the legislature.
Right-to-work will allow new employees, such as teachers for example, to be employed without being coerced into paying union dues to fat cat union bosses. If you believe the idiot-oriented propaganda from the Left, that's a bad thing for the children. The Left's greed is always so conveniently about the children. But even the children know that the unions are not fighting for them; the unions are fighting to
preserve their own political power and finances.
In Michigan, the Right-To-Work legislation was brought about largely by the excesses of the unions themselves, notes Breitbart.com. "The use of members' dues proved that the feelings of many former labor union loyalists were correct; Big Labor had become largely about fighting contentious political battles and less about the welfare of the rank and file. Money that could have gone to training or even just back in the pockets of labor union members was wasted; the initiative lost in a landslide. Even more embarrassing, the 58% - 42% loss came amid Democratic gains at every level in the 2012 elections in Michigan."
"Expect the Unions this week to make a mighty noise and expect the silent majority to stay home," Breitbart.com continued. "Make no mistake, though; in November, the people of Michigan spoke loudly and clearly; they want the right to work without the union middlemen taking their cut."
Related:
February 26, 2011 - Chicago - CNB - Between 400 and 500 people attended a rally organized by unions and socialist groups at Noon today. The event took place at the James Thompson Center downtown. The well-attended event was peaceful but boisterous, with enthusiastic supporters of public sector unions chanting and cheering speakers. See our slideshow below. 
