State officials expecting crowd of thousands next week at the Capitol in Lansing, Michigan

SEIU 22 hours 44 mins ago Twitter
Workers from across MI are at @UAW to learn how to protest peacefully & stand together to protect good jobs. #SaveMI twitter.yfrog.com/kly3lyi...
read more at http://twitter.yfrog.com/kly3lyihj#TLgyYGOPz5jwtxZE.99


from the Maddow blog:

With sudden support from Republican Governor Rick Snyder, Republicans in the Michigan legislature have been speeding through a package to severely weaken unions in that state. The pace at which the bills are moving through the lame-duck session is almost unbelievable. That it's happening in the birthplace of the modern American labor union is almost unfathomable.

The legislature next takes up the so-called Right to Work measures, which essentially ban union shops, on Tuesday. Today opponents of Right to Work gathered at the UAW hall, picture above, for training in how to "protest peacefully and stand together" -- a long tradition in Michigan labor. State officials are expecting a crowd of thousands next week at the Capitol in Lansing. Eclectablog reports that the union supporters will find that conservative groups have already reserved the Capitol steps for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, after which the chambers adjourn.

read more: http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/12/08/15780553-what-happens-next-in-michigan


-- Unions spent Friday organizing civil disobedience training and staffing phone banks to urge members to be at the Capitol on Tuesday for what could be one of the largest demonstrations the state's seat of government has seen in decades.

Backers and opponents of a right-to-work law in Michigan said they are planning to show their strength -- predictions of 7,000 demonstrators or more, including hundreds from other states -- as the Legislature prepares to complete its fast-track consideration of a package of bills that would make the lightning-rod issue the law.

Schauer, a Battle Creek Democrat, said the Michigan Laborers plan to gather and lobby at the Capitol on Monday, in advance of a much larger labor demonstration planned for Tuesday that is organized by the Michigan AFL-CIO and other union groups.

read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20121208/NEWS15/312080108/Right-to-work-legislation-in-Michigan-Thousands-could-mass-for-rallies-at-Capitol?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE





MANDI WRIGHT/DFP
Protestors against Right To Work legislation chant "this is what democracy looks like" as they take to the steps of the Capitol in Lansing Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012.



Greg DeRuiter/Lansing State Journal


Union members and supporters opposed to Right to Work legislation gather to protest outside the doors of Michigan state senate in Lansing as lawmakers debate the bill.


James Fassinger/Special to the Free Press



State Police block the entrance to the State Capitol in Lansing as protestors against Right To Work legislation wait to enter the building Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012.


MANDI WRIGHT/DFP



Protesters managed to get past security in front of the senate doors and layed down on the floor, while State Police scramble to get them up.


James Fassinger/Special to the Free Press



A State Police trooper talks with a protester who was on his knees and refused to move outside the Senate doors at the Michigan Capitol.


James Fassinger/Special to the Free Press



Teamsters retiree Robert Fisher, who worked for thirty years hauling cars in Lansing, joins other protesters at the State Capitol Building protesting right-to-work legislation


Rod Sanford/Lansing State Journal


related:

Michigan House passes right-to-work legislation after Democrats walk out to protest closed Capitol (Gov. Rick Snyder already has said he will sign the bills when they hit his desk, possibly Tuesday.)
http://www.freep.com/article/20121206/NEWS06/121206088