Teamsters from all over Michigan, and Pennsylvania, Iowa, Ohio, Wisconsin and Indiana are on their way to Lansing for tomorrow's Day of Action against right-to-work-for-less. A leading Michigan newspaper called for a referendum on the controversial bill being railroaded through the Legislature.
The Detroit Free Press said Gov. Rick Snyder should let the voters choose -- since they will anyway:
Let’s be clear here. Snyder has pulled one of the more offensive bait-and-switches in recent political memory. During his campaign and since his election, has said right-to-work was too divisive for Michigan and that it wasn’t on his agenda. Then last week, he did a monumental skin-back on that position.
...if the governor really believes in choice, why wouldn’t he let voters choose for themselves whether to accept his sudden change of heart?President Obama weighed in as well while visiting the Daimler Detroit Diesel plant in Redford:
These so called right-to-work laws, they don’t have to do with economics,. They have everything to do with politics. What they’re really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money.Thousands of union members arranged to travel to the state Capitol, where streets and parking garages will be closed off and a large police presence is expected. Teamster Local 299 President Kevin Moore said the UAW had already rented every bus in town (Local 299 managed to get a bus.)
Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa and Local 299 member Patti McGuckin will fire up the crowd in Lansing tomorrow morning.
Smaller protests were held today throughout Michigan. Nurses put duct tape over their mouths on the steps of the state Capitol to show how their voices are being silenced. rep.
Brother Terry Hoogerhyde marched in another silent protest in Grand Rapids today. Michigan Live reported:
Amway heir Dick DeVos and Gov. Rick Snyder were targets of criticism this afternoon at a downtown protest of Michigan’s pending right-to-work legislation. About 50 people gathered on Calder Plaza, then marched through the city shouting slogans like “hey, hey, ho, ho, right-to-work has got to go.”
The procession stopped in front of the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel for several minutes before Grand Rapids police quieted the crowd, which then circled the Monroe Avenue sidewalk outside the hotel a few times before moving on.
The “silent” protest began on Calder Plaza with comments by state Rep. Brandon Dillon, D-Grand Rapids, and a handful of people who spoke briefly about their views of Republican leadership. Wearing a photograph of DeVos over his face, Reifler taped shut the mouths of speakers to symbolize how they feel silenced by state House and Senate passage of right-to-work legislation in lame-duck session without committee hearings.And this:
“I’m an abused citizen of Michigan (via Snyder’s policies),” said Terry Hoogerhyde, a Spartan Stores truck driver and union member. “The icing on the cake is right-to-work. No right. No work.
“This is getting back to ‘I want to drain the union of all their money’ and, ultimately, ‘I will destroy the union.’ This is just another way to race to the bottom.”
