Woo-hoo! Protect Our Jobs on Mich. ballot

This is great news! The constitutional amendment to protect collective bargaining rights in Michigan will be on the ballot in November.

We won the court battle; now we have to win the ballot question.

Here is MLive on the latest development:

Michigan could follow Ohio and Wisconsin as a nationally watched battleground for unions looking to restore clout after the state Supreme Court ruled that “Protect Our Jobs” proposal will be before the voters in November. 

Unions have collected millions of dollars to campaign for the proposal, which would enshrine collective bargaining into the state constitution, and possibly affect about 170 existing laws. 

“I would say that Michigan will become a major battleground, like Wisconsin, on this Nov. 6,” said Bill Ballenger of Inside Michigan Politics. 

“The unions spent millions just getting this on the ballot. They’re trying to head off anything that might be coming from a Republican-controlled Legislature and Gov. Snyder, fearing they could enact ‘right to work’ legislation that would be the coup de grace for organized labor in Michigan.” 

Unions successfully overturned laws directed at organized labor in Ohio, but failed in an expensive, high-profile attempt to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who ushered through laws limiting collective bargaining.

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa was quoted:

The Protect Our Jobs proposal is backed by national union leaders, and was discussed by Teamsters President James Hoffa as he addressed the Michigan delegation at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday. 

At a morning breakfast Hoffa talked about re-electing Barack Obama and retaking the state House -- but said passing the constitutional amendment “is the most important thing.” 

“We need to guarantee collective bargaining in Michigan forever in our constitution,” he said to applause.

'Collective bargaining got us here' (video)

Here's a new ad for the Protect Our Jobs campaign in Michigan. Protect Our Jobs would amend Michigan's constitution to protect collective bargaining rights. Opponents have been trying to keep the question off the November ballot. A state appeals court ordered it on the ballot, but opponents will appeal to the state supreme court.

According to the campaign,

Once near-death, the auto industry has risen to record-breaking sales and produce vehicles of exceptional quality. Plants are adding jobs and bringing work back from overseas as employers and managers work together to ensure the future of the auto industry remains bright. 

The UAW and auto executives worked together to make historic changes in production, pay and benefits. Since 2009, productivity has increased, loans given by the government have been repaid ahead of schedule and profits soared to all-time highs. 

Collective bargaining helps everyone because the wages, benefits, working conditions and safety procedures laid out in contracts become industry standards. Working families have more money to spend in local economies, small businesses benefit from the boost in sales and communities are strengthened. 

Corporate special interests want to block Michigan’s working families from exercising their right to vote on the proposal, pushing Lansing politicians to pressure the courts to keep the proposal off the ballot. 

On Monday, the Michigan Court of Appeals ordered the Board of State Canvassers to place the proposal on the Nov. 6 ballot. The board, which previously deadlocked on placing the proposal on the ballot, followed the court’s order.

Stay tuned.

Today's Teamster News 08.28.12

Libor Scandal's Potential Costs Exploding To $88 Billion Or More  Huffington Post   ...The high-end estimate of the potential cost to the 16 banks being investigated in the Libor probe has risen to $176 billion, the WSJ writes, citing a July report by Australian firm Macquarie Research...
Unilever sees 'return to poverty' in Europe  The Telegraph   ...Unilever will adopt marketing strategies used in developing countries in order to drive future growth in Europe, as the head of its European business warned that poverty will rise in the region as a result of the debt crisis...
Appeals court rejects challenge to collective-bargaining-rights ballot proposal  Detroit Free Press   ...The Michigan Court of Appeals rejected this afternoon a challenge to a ballot proposal aimed at enshrining collective bargaining rights in the state constitution...
Frequent Capitol protesters face crackdown  Milwaukee Journal Sentinel   ...Erwin recently met with legislative aides who were feeling threatened or intimidated by protesters who have come into the aides' offices to berate them and have followed them to their cars. He suggested they try filming a demonstrator and, if that didn't work, punching the person with their free hand...
Teamsters Local 399 will start talks next week  Variety   ...Casting directors ratified a one-year successor contract last September following negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and Local 399 of the Intl. Brotherhood of Teamsters...
Teamsters locked out by SuperMom's  Minneapolis Star Tribune   ...Twenty-two Teamsters drivers for SuperMom's bakery in St. Paul Park have been locked out of their jobs in a contract dispute. While a small work stoppage, it's part of growing national wave of labor lockouts initiated by corporations...

Today's Teamster News 08.27.12

Light blogging for the next few days. TeamsterNation is taking a break.

Laid-Off US Workers Are Taking Huge Pay Cuts At Their New Jobs  Associated Press   ...Only 56 percent of Americans laid off from January 2009 through December 2011 had found jobs by the start of this year, the Labor Department said Friday. More than half of them took jobs with lower pay. One-third took pay cuts of 20 percent or more...
Mitt Romney Reaped Huge Tax Benefits Based On 'Active' Role At Bain Capital  Huffington Post   ...Even if Romney could persuade the IRS his involvement was legitimately active, that still leaves him in a rhetorical jam: For tax purposes, he claims an active status; for political purposes, he claims to have zero to do with the investments...
Human rights in Honduras: State Department looks the other way (opinion)  Los Angeles Times   ... In March, the AFL-CIO filed a complaint under the Central American Free Trade Agreement documenting widespread abuses of labor rights in Honduras since the 2009 coup, including firings of those who signed union petitions and assassinations of trade unionists active in the resistance...
One in Four Mississippi Residents Struggle to Afford Food  Gallup   ...Residents in Alabama and Delaware are also among the most likely to struggle to afford food...
California Legislature sets ambitious agenda in last week of session  Los Angeles Times   ...Entering the final week of their legislative session, state lawmakers still must grapple with controversial proposals to overhaul California's overburdened public pension system, revamp its costly workers' compensation scheme and change the way corporate taxes are assessed...
Michigan court's collective bargaining rights decision will be sweeping  Lansing State Journal   ...union advocates believe collective bargaining has helped bring about safer hospital conditions, more effective police patrols and better learning environments for students...

Tell Michigan's AG: Let us vote on Protect Our Jobs amendment

Ruh-roh: Trouble for the constitutional amendment to protect collective bargaining in Michigan.

Michigan's Board of Canvassers yesterday deadlocked on whether the amendment should be put on the ballot. That means supporters have only a short time to appeal their decision (or lack thereof) to the state Supreme Court.

The Detroit Free Press reports,

Ballot certification of the union-backed Protect Our Jobs initiative, which would enshrine collective-bargaining rights in the state constitution, failed in a 2-2 vote. The two Democratic appointees, Chairwoman Julie Matuzak and James Waters, voted to put the question on the Nov. 6 ballot. The two Republican appointees, Norman Shinkle and Colleen Pero, voted to reject it... 

On Wednesday, attorneys for Protect Our Jobs also filed appeals with the Michigan Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. But the challenge they face could be tougher.
First, there is much less time for legal maneuvering. State election officials say they must have the issue resolved by Aug. 27 -- less than two weeks away -- to allow time to prepare and print ballots. 

Second, the initial rejection of the Stand Up for Democracy proposal dealt with the highly technical issue of the font size used in printing the petition's heading, but more substantive legal questions are at issue in the Protect Our Jobs case.

There is something you can do if you live in Michigan: Send a letter to Michigan's attorney general demanding that he give the people their voice back. By way of explanation:

Our right to collectively bargain in Michigan is under attack by partisan politicians and the corporations that help fund their campaigns.  Bill Schuette, the Attorney General of Michigan, has pressured the Board of Canvassers into keeping this important initiative off the ballot....The Protect Our Jobs measure was ripped from the ballot even though your fellow Teamsters and others collected over 700,000 signatures and met all the legal requirements to place the crucial measure on the ballot.

Click here to send the letter

The Protect Our Jobs coalition has a great Facebook page here, where you can follow developments. They also have a website here.

Today's Teamster News 08.05.12

Where are the US jobs? Ask the corporate cash hoarders  The Guardian   ...Corporate tax breaks won't boost the economy. If unemployment is to fall, giant companies must invest in job creation...
Maddow: Romney demanded opponents’ tax returns and lied about residency in 2002  Raw Story   ...In the 2002 gubernatorial campaign, it was alleged that Romney had gamed his taxes to qualify to run for governor. The Massachusetts Democratic Party said that Romney had lied about filing jointly as a resident of Massachusetts and Utah, a charge that the Romney campaign denied and denied and denied until the very last minute when they were forced to admit that yes, the charge had merit and that Romney had filed retroactively...
India Blackout Foreshadows US Event  The Daily Impact   ...The United States is edging ever closer to the kind of power-grid failure that put 600 million Indians — ten per cent of the population of the planet — in the dark for two days this week. The reasons for the threat are the same here as they are there: one, no one is taking care of the grid...
Report: Over half of all super PAC spending comes from just 47 millionaires  MSNBC   ..."[O]ur research shows that outside spending groups that aggregate unlimited contributions are distorting our democracy, functioning as megaphones for (sometimes unseen) millionaires and moguls," the report says...
Michigan attorney general knocks unions' bargaining-rights ballot bid  Reuters   ...A coalition of unions, supporters of the "Protect Our Jobs" measure, submitted petitions with nearly 700,000 signatures, twice the number needed, to get the measure on the ballot. Petition challenges must be filed by the close of business August 8, and a decision whether to place it before voters by a state election board is expected by mid-August...
Teamsters Local 406 Michigan on Strike  Fight Back News   ... The 57 gravel pit workers and drivers went on strike July 19, at 11:30 a.m., after the company refused to budge in negotiations. Grand Rapids Gravel is demanding $6 per hour in benefit cuts. The Teamsters came back with $3.26 in givebacks, but were forced out on strike anyway...