Tag Archives: collective bargaining

How Dick DeVos made Michigan a right-to-work state

If you haven’t read it yet, Andy Kroll has a great piece on the DeVos family in the most recent issue of Mother Jones. Of particular interest to me was the section detailing how Dick DeVos pretty much single-handedly orchestrated the passage of so-called “right-to-work” legislation last year. Here’s a clip. …For Dick DeVos, the […]

Posted in Michigan, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

County Commissioner Andy LaBarre attacked by far-right local radio personality Thayrone X for moving to renegotiate union contracts prior to Right-to-Work legislation going into effect

On the way home from work the other day, listening to our local hate talk radio station, WAAM, I had the distinct pleasure of hearing my friend, County Commissioner Andy LaBarre, called a ‘psychotic lame-brain fascist weenie clown’ by Ann Arbor’s own tea-partying, Michael Savage wannabe Thayrone X. It would seem that Thayrone was less […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, Michigan, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Calling what happened during Michigan’s lame duck session “very, very bad,” former State Senator Joe Schwartz blames term limits and the unprecedented influence of corporate money

As we recently discussed, Michigan Radio, as part of their Issues & Ale series, hosted a panel discussion in Ypsilanti late last week on the subject of Michigan’s newly passed right-to-work legislation. The panel, which included former Republican State Senator Joe Schwartz, Kristin Dziczek, the Director of the Labor & Industry Group at the Center […]

Posted in Media, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 28 Comments

Exploring Michelle Rhee’s destructive influence over Michigan education reform

I’m spending my evening getting acquainted with Michelle Rhee, the controversial former chancellor of the Washington, D.C. public schools, who’s gone on to a lucrative career as a hired gun in the fight to destroy teachers unions and privatize American public education. While I’d heard about her in the past, and I’d known that she’d […]

Posted in Education, Michigan, Politics | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 40 Comments

Coup d’etat in Michigan… following the money, connecting the dots, and assessing Snyder’s role

This afternoon, as over 10,000 protesters surrounded the Capitol building in Lansing, Governor Snyder singed into law legislation that would make Michigan the 24th right-to-work state. When asked why it was so urgent that this be done now, during the lame duck session, outside of the accepted procedural process, Snyder essentially blamed the unions, who, […]

Posted in Michigan, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 39 Comments

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