From The Detroit News and ADF:
Last Updated: February 21. 2011 3:47PM .Labor plans Lansing lobbying blitz Tuesday
Paul Egan / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Lansing— Organized labor will send 300 to 400 workers and union officials to the Capitol on Tuesday to try to stop "Wisconsin-style assaults" on collective bargaining, the president of the Michigan AFL-CIO said today.
Mark Gaffney said he and his members are especially concerned about bills before the GOP-controlled state Legislature that would allow emergency financial managers to scrap union contracts; end binding arbitration for police and firefighters and repeal Michigan's prevailing wage law that sets minimum pay and benefit rates for state-sponsored or state-financed construction projects.
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Public sector employees don't like health-care concessions and other measures included in the budget Republican Gov. Rick Snyder unveiled Thursday, but "our problem may not be with Gov. Snyder as much as it is with Republicans in the Legislature," Gaffney said.
"To have the right-wing Republican Legislature come out and say the only way to work through concessions is to end collective bargaining and to end contracts is just wrong," Gaffney said at a news conference in Lansing.
Ari Adler, a spokesman for House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, said the intent of many of the bills before the Legislature is to help local governments cut costs.
"We're not out to stop collective bargaining, but what we are trying to do is to try to put everyone on the same page and understand we have to all share in the sacrifice" for Michigan to prosper, he said.
Snyder has said hot-button labor issues such as repealing the prevailing wage law that requires union rates on public projects and making Michigan a right-to-work state are not priorities for him. His budget seeks $180 million in concessions from state employees, but Snyder has said he wants to achieve those concessions through bargaining.
Wisconsin has seen a week of protests and a legislative impasse over Republican Gov. Scott Walker's plan to severely limit collective bargaining rights of public sector workers while seeking concessions in areas such as health-care premiums.
pegan@detnews.com
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110221/POLITICS02/102210378/Labor-plans-Lansing-lobbying-blitz-Tuesday#ixzz1Ef1yJc58
Last Updated: February 21. 2011 3:47PM .Labor plans Lansing lobbying blitz Tuesday
Paul Egan / Detroit News Lansing Bureau
Lansing— Organized labor will send 300 to 400 workers and union officials to the Capitol on Tuesday to try to stop "Wisconsin-style assaults" on collective bargaining, the president of the Michigan AFL-CIO said today.
Mark Gaffney said he and his members are especially concerned about bills before the GOP-controlled state Legislature that would allow emergency financial managers to scrap union contracts; end binding arbitration for police and firefighters and repeal Michigan's prevailing wage law that sets minimum pay and benefit rates for state-sponsored or state-financed construction projects.
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Public sector employees don't like health-care concessions and other measures included in the budget Republican Gov. Rick Snyder unveiled Thursday, but "our problem may not be with Gov. Snyder as much as it is with Republicans in the Legislature," Gaffney said.
"To have the right-wing Republican Legislature come out and say the only way to work through concessions is to end collective bargaining and to end contracts is just wrong," Gaffney said at a news conference in Lansing.
Ari Adler, a spokesman for House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall, said the intent of many of the bills before the Legislature is to help local governments cut costs.
"We're not out to stop collective bargaining, but what we are trying to do is to try to put everyone on the same page and understand we have to all share in the sacrifice" for Michigan to prosper, he said.
Snyder has said hot-button labor issues such as repealing the prevailing wage law that requires union rates on public projects and making Michigan a right-to-work state are not priorities for him. His budget seeks $180 million in concessions from state employees, but Snyder has said he wants to achieve those concessions through bargaining.
Wisconsin has seen a week of protests and a legislative impasse over Republican Gov. Scott Walker's plan to severely limit collective bargaining rights of public sector workers while seeking concessions in areas such as health-care premiums.
pegan@detnews.com
From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110221/POLITICS02/102210378/Labor-plans-Lansing-lobbying-blitz-Tuesday#ixzz1Ef1yJc58
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