MI workers aim for constitutional amendment protecting collective bargaining rights



Hoosiers fighting RTW. Now Michiganders are joining the battle.

Now what a good idea.

Our friend UAW President Bob King talked about it yesterday, according to Crain's Detroit Business:

UAW President Bob King said Thursday that a coalition of unions will push for an amendment to the Michigan Constitution that bars so-called right-to-work legislation outlawing contracts that require employees to join unions.

Republicans who control the state Legislature have been pushing for a law that would ban labor agreements with mandatory union dues. Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has said the issue is not a priority for his administration.

A union coalition will push for a November ballot issue protecting the right to have union shops, King told about 1,000 people at the UAW's national convention in Washington.

Apparently King had already let the cat out of the bag even before the UAW convention when he surprised people with the proposal at a small community forum, according to Alternet.

When an audience member asked why Michigan unions have not wholeheartedly backed the petition to repeal the emergency manager law, King said leaders thought amending the constitution was a better, more permanent strategy. A constitutional amendment would block both right to work and emergency managers, he said. The measure does not have to pass the legislature.

Stay tuned.