This week in the war on workers: Michigan GOP blocking paid sick leave by passing paid sick leave?

Daily Kos Staff

Saturday September 08, 2018 · 3:55 PM PDT

2018/09/08 · 15:55

no image description available — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder

Michigan’s Republican-controlled legislature just passed bills requiring paid sick leave and raising the minimum wage to $12. But don’t get excited—get angry. The Republicans passed those laws in order to keep them weak:

That’s because the effort to pass the two measures was more about keeping the issues off the Nov. 6 ballot and giving the Legislature the power to amend the two laws with a simple majority. If the proposals had gone to the ballot and were passed by voters, it would take a three-quarters majority to amend the laws.

During a lame-duck session, Republicans are expected to do things like exclude tipped workers from the minimum wage increase, lower the minimum wage increase and lengthen its phase-in time, and reduce or even eliminate paid sick leave. They’re using dirty tricks to keep voters from having their say in order to block strong laws improving the lot of Michigan’s workers.

● Chicago hotel workers are on strike, seeking year-round health care:

“Hotels may slow down in the wintertime, but I still need my diabetes medication when I’m laid off. Nobody should lose their health benefits just because it’s cold out. Full-time jobs should have year-round benefits,” said Q. Rivers, a house attendant at the Palmer House Hilton.

● What's behind the push for charter schools in Louisville, Kentucky? Republicans.

● A lovely story about the difference a great teacher can make—and how current education policies make that less likely.

● Americans pay almost as much for child care as they do for rent.

● I’m late to this story, but wow, Burning Man is the worst.

● About two million low-income Americans would lose benefits under House farm bill, study says.

Under the bill, states could remove about 8 percent of those receiving aid from the rolls, according to the research firm, Mathematica, which used data from the Agriculture Department’s Food and Nutrition Service.

About 34 percent of seniors in the program, or 677,000 households, would lose benefits under the proposal, according to the study. More than one in 10 people with a disability, another 214,000 households, would also lose eligibility.

This week in the war on workers: Michigan GOP blocking paid sick leave by passing paid sick leave?

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