Tag Archives: collective bargaining

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

By Mark | February 8, 2013

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 Andy LaBarre, hate speech, lame duck, right-to-work, Thayrone X, unions, WAAM, Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners | 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

By Mark | January 22, 2013

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 Ave Maria, Ave Maria graduates, Center for Automotive Research, Community Capital Forum, Corner brewery, corporate takeover of politics, F. Vincent Vernuccio, get the money out of Washington, Gretchen Driskell, Issues & Ale, Jack Lessenberry, Koch brothers, Kristin Dziczek, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, MEDC, Michael Shuman, Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Michigan House of Representatives, Michigan Radio, Michigan Senate, Mike Finney, money in politics, partisan politics, Proposition 2, Pure Michigan, right-to-work, Ron Weiser, tea party, term limits, Tom Monaghan, union busting, unions | 25 Comments

Exploring Michelle Rhee’s destructive influence over Michigan education reform

By Mark | January 10, 2013

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 Catherine Ferguson Academy, charter schools, D.C., David Tepper, dismantling of public education, District of Columbia, education reform, for-profit charter schools, Jeff Clark, Kevin Johnson, Michelle Rhee, Michigan Education Association, no child left behind, Norm Donohoe, Oregon, PACs, Paul Scott, Philip Anschutz, privatization, Proposition 2, public education, Rupert Murdoch, StudentsFirst, tenure, threats to public education, Tim King, Waiting for Superman | 31 Comments

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

By Mark | December 12, 2012

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 Americans for Prosperity, Cindy Estrada, corporatocracy, Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation, Dick DeVos, Emergency Manager, Flint Sit-Down Strike, Frank Keating, John Engler, Koch brothers, labor history, Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Paul Singer, Proposal 2, Proposition 2, Rick Snyder, right-to-work, Ron Weiser, tea party, UAW, unions, West Michigan Policy Forum | 31 Comments

Will Michigan follow Indiana and be the next “right-to-work” domino to fall in the right’s ceaseless quest to rollback worker rights?

By Mark | December 5, 2012

When the citizens of Michigan recently failed to pass Proposition 2, which would have established the right to collective bargaining in our State Constitution, we signaled to members of the Republican party that now was the time to launch their all out attack on organized labor. When Prop 2 lost by 15-points, we demonstrated to [...]