Columnist: Gov. Snyder’s anti-union legislation strips rights of employees to help define work

By Motor City Muckraker on February 4, 2013164 Comments

By Paul Ruth

Michigan’s new right-to-work law is showing to be divisive just as Gov. Rick Snyder originally said it would. The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and a collection of unions seek to stop the law, stating the passage violated the state’s Open Meetings Act. At the same time, the Wayne State University faculty union is seeking a 10-year deal that would guarantee dues collection even after right-to-work goes into effect. With the Wayne State campus home to the Walter P. Ruther library, which focuses on labor history, and a Republican-controlled Lansing, Interstate 96 might be the only means of real connection between the two political poles.

Like any state where the capital is geographically separated from the largest metropolis, Michigan is prime for clear divisions between state and local politics. Yet recently is seems like Lansing and Detroit have spared on a continuous array of issues directly relating to the future of the city and the southeast region. Right-to-work, the Canadian bridge, auto industry, emergency manager, and Belle Isle are just some of the issues making headlines and sound bites. The issue between right-to-work and Wayne State’s faculty union provides a glaring light revealing, the division is one of more than a difference of location, but a difference of ideology.

Unionization is almost always pictured as a steel worker or an auto worker holding a sign. Unions are also police and fire fighters (who were exempt from the new right-to-work law), nurses, teachers, and college professors. In fact, you can find unions on college campuses across the state. How could Lansing not expect blow back in a state that has such a deep struggle and history for unionization? The fact remains that many in the state found the passage of the law to be unsettling in how it was rammed through and what it contains.

Henry Ford is famous for explaining that a person’s work is what defines the individual. Collective bargaining is more than just ink on a pay stub, but a way for those subject to politics and board rooms to aid in determining the scope, purpose, and impact their work has on society. It gives voice to the people for the people’s future. It would be wiser for the educator to make decisions on education than the politician who considers himself an expert with no experience in the field. It is just logical to listen to the professor when it comes to academics, the nurses when it comes to patient care, the firefighter to put out the flames, or the line worker to assemble the car.

Contracts should be kept between workers and employer, not between the two and the government determining what is best for production. Mr. Snyder should trust Michiganders to do what they have always done best, grow and produce. Today, these are the scariest words in Michigan: “Hello, I’m from Lansing and I want to fix your problems.”

Unions are a democratic development where people are allowed to self govern their own work place. They are a way for people to earn pride and ownership of what they do, not to have it handed down. The labor fight is no longer a battle of an overpass. Today it is a crusade of I-96 where politics stands in the way of progress. Right-to-work is as divisive as it was anticipated, driving a wedge between state government and the populous.

Paul Ruth is a certified secondary English teacher currently working as a permanent building substitute teacher at Chippewa Valley High School. He has been contributing to the Huffington Post for more than a year on topics ranging from education, causes, social commentary to both national and local politics. Paul is a graduate of MacMurray College with a B.S. in English and is anticipating the completion of a M.A. in English from Marygrove College in August of 2013.

collective bargaining, Column, detroit, gov snyder, Legislation, Right to Work

Columnist: Gov. Snyder’s anti-union legislation strips rights of employees to help define work added by Motor City Muckraker on February 4, 2013
View all posts by Motor City Muckraker →