Tag Archives: unions

What exactly happened to Detroit?

By Mark | November 23, 2013

Someone from Europe posed the following question on Reddit a few days ago… “Americans: What exactly happened to Detroit? I regularly see photos on Reddit of abandoned areas of the city and read stories of high unemployment and dereliction, but as a European have never heard the full story.” Here, because I think some of […]

Posted in Detroit, Uncategorized | Also tagged Albert Kahn, anti-union, automotive industry, Belle Isle, Brush Park, Chicago, city income tax, Coleman Young, Comerica Park, Corktown, corruption, crack cocaine, Dave Bing, Detroit '67 riots, Detroit City Council, Detroit corruption, Detroit Riot, Detroit River, factories, Ford Field, Ford Motor Company, forestry, General Motors, GM, Henry Ford, housing bubble, housing crisis, industrialization, Joe Louis Arena, Kevyn Orr, Kwame Kilpatrick, logging, lumber, maquiladora, Mexico, NAFTA, North American Free Trade Act, northern migration, outsourcing, People Mover, Poletown Plant, prohibition, public transportation, Pulte, racism, Rail, Renaissance Center, Rick Snyder, rightsizing of Detroit, Ross Perot, the parable of Detroit, union busting, westward expansion, who to blame for the situation in Detroit | 9 Comments

Vindictive Michigan Republicans seek retribution against U-M and Wayne State for renegotiating union contracts prior to the March 28 roll-out of right-to-work legislation

By Mark | March 19, 2013

A bill passed this morning by the House Higher Education Subcommittee, in a 4-3 vote along party lines, would cut an additional $41 million in state funding from the University of Michigan, and $27.5 million in funding from Wayne State University. According to a report in today’s Detroit Free Press, this is being done to […]

Posted in Education, Michigan, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Al Pscholka, anti-science, domestic partner benefits, higher education, Higher Education Subcommittee, lame duck, Michigan House of Representatives, Randy Richardville, Rick Snyder, right-to-work, those anti-science Republicans, union busting, University of Michigan, Wayne State University | 20 Comments

Michigan’s first for-profit charter school goes union in Detroit… Will others follow?

By Mark | February 12, 2013

A few days ago, something positive happened on the Michigan education landscape. The teachers of the Cesar Chavez Academy, a charter school in southwest Detroit, voted to unionize. What follows is my admittedly too short interview with Daniel Kukuk, one of the American Federation of Teachers organizers who helped make it happen. MARK: So, what […]

Posted in Detroit, Education, Michigan | Also tagged American Federation of Teachers, Arts Academy in the Woods, Cesar Chavez Academy, charter schools, Daniel Kukuk, Detroit, Education Achievement Authority, education reform, for-profit charter schools, Fraser, Michigan Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff, National Labor Relations Board, right-to-work, Southwest Detroit, teachers unions, The Leona Group, union organizing | 13 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

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, collective bargaining, hate speech, lame duck, right-to-work, Thayrone X, WAAM, Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners | 24 Comments

Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer, without the support of the UAW, faces attacks from within… What’s next?

By Mark | February 2, 2013

According to a report on MLive, Michigan Republicans are demanding that the investigation into Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Mark Brewer’s involvement in a 2010 plot to split the conservative vote in Metro Detroit by running fake Tea Party candidates against establishment Republicans, be reopened. Here’s a clip: …Bobby Schostak, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, […]