Excerpt from: The New York Times (click for full article)
Tired of battling legislative efforts to roll back union rights in state
after state, organized labor is trying a new strategy: going on the
offense. The first target is Michigan, the cradle of the United
Automobile Workers and a bastion of union power.
Michigan’s unions are asking voters to approve a referendum on the
ballot this November, known as Proposal 2, that would lock a series of
labor protections into the state Constitution, including the right of
public sector unions to bargain collectively and a prohibition against
the legislature’s enacting a “right to work” law.
At the moment, the proposal’s chances of passing are difficult to
predict. Proponents had a significant lead at first, but that has eroded
as business-backed groups have escalated their attacks. A Detroit News
poll released Oct. 12 found that 43.2 percent of the 600 people surveyed
supported the proposal, and 41.8 percent opposed it. The difference was
within the poll’s margin of error.
Union leaders say Proposal 2 has a simple aim: to protect collective bargaining against further assault.
Governor Snyder is fighting hard to defeat Proposal 2 and preserve the
emergency manager law, which was updated during his tenure.
Ivy Bailey, an elementary-school teacher in Detroit, said collective
bargaining helped lift her father, a longtime assembly plant worker at
General Motors, into the middle class and send two daughters to college.
“People fought for the right for us to bargain,” she said. “If we could
trust the boss to do the right thing, we wouldn’t need collective
bargaining.”
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