A
planned anti-union bill in Michigan isn't being introduced in the state House just yet—because unions went on the offensive rather than waiting to be forced on the defensive. The unions and allied groups are trying to get a measure protecting collective bargaining rights on November's ballot. And because of that:
State Rep. Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, who has said he plans to introduce right-to-work legislation in the House, said last week the ballot drive "affects our priorities."
"The No. 1 objective now becomes making sure we defeat that union boss ballot drive," he said.
Yes, "union bosses" like
graduate research assistants at the University of Michigan. They've joined the effort to pass the ballot measure, Josh Eidelson reports, after the state legislature passed a law preemptively declaring them ineligible for union recognition before the state's labor board could rule on whether their work as research assistants counts as employment.
Now, graduate research assistants are in the fun position of simultaneously being students who aren't eligible to join unions at all and "union bosses" whose efforts will be a giant target:
"I think you're going to see every group in town rallying to stop this petition drive," said Charles Owens, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.
Apparently, according to the National Federation of Independent Business, a group that supports repeal of the estate tax and the Affordable Care Act and donates heavily to Republicans, the unions and ineligible-for-union-representation research assistants and other groups backing the ballot measure don't count as part of "every group in town."