Group kicks off campaign for right to work laws in Michigan

[Bozita]

Source: Detroit Free Press

Group kicks off campaign for right to work laws in Michigan
2:03 PM, Jun. 30, 2011
BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF
DETROIT FREE PRESS LANSING BUREAU

LANSING – A grass roots movement to enact right to work laws in Michigan kicked off a campaign today that its spokespersons called a fight for free choice that will create more jobs.

The group, called Michigan Freedom to Work, could turn up the heat on an issue that has simmered in Lansing and gained momentum with a Republican-led legislature and governor.

Eight union members and former union members at a news conference said while unions are beneficial, their lock on members who are required to pay dues ultimately discourages companies from coming to Michigan.

They cited numerous right to work states with more robust economies.

Read more: http://www.freep.com/article/20110630/NEWS15/110630029/Group-kicks-off-campaign-right-work-laws-Michigan?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

---

Michigan's about due for a name change.

I'd like to suggest Michissippi.

[Romulox]

1. It's the only way we can get a Hyundai plant up here.

SOLIDARITY!!!1!?

[Brickbat]

2. Nice scabbing there, people.

[Starry Messenger]

3. Jesus, didn't every single school employee recently get fired?

What more do they want? Just bring back serfdom for cripesake.

[Hotler]

4. If you do not like unions do not work in a union shop.

You have the right/freedom to go work somewhere else. No one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to work there. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps and find a non union shop to work in.
Suck it dry union haters.

[Scout]

14. THIS REPLY by Hotler says it best! n/t

[christx30]

20. If you are in a Union state

and there are very few, if no, non-Union shops, then you have no choice other than to work Union, move, or move to a union state.

[Phlem]

5. "Right to work"

FOR LESS!!

what a bunch of imbeciles.

-p

[mopinko]

6. grass roots my ass. np

[Corruption Winz]

7. I'm usually a pro-union guy....

But when it comes to Michigan, I really feel for the people there. And while I know they'd likely be taken advantage of, I can see them feeling the need for SOMETHING in that state. It's really bad. I can't say I completely fault these people.

[iwishiwas]

8. Crap!!

[iwishiwas]

9. "right to work laws have no track record of creating jobs." These ex

union members have been drinking the RW Kool Aid.

[GeorgeGist]

10. "Right to Work" sounds like socialism.

..























:sarcasm: thingy. Just in case you didn't know these grass holes are facetious.

[leftyohiolib]

11. how bout a right to work for less than minimum wage

state. wow look how fortunate we are here in michigan.the job i used to get 20$/hr for i now get to do for 3$/hr with out benefits. hey but at least i have a job. this is not grass roots.

[starroute]

12. "Grassroots group" only if grassroots=rightwing extremist

It seems to be a project of something called the Michigan Conservative Union.
http://www.michiganconservativeunion.com/michigan-freedom-to-work/

According to its webpage, MCU was "re-established in 2010." Its current chairman is Mark Forton, who is a former county chairman for the GOP and headed the Pat Buchanan for President campaign in Michigan in 1996 and 2000. http://theconservativedeclaration.wordpress.com/

The link above goes to some sort of conservative declaration from 2007 on which Forton's chief co-signer is Tom McMillan, who has been associated with the Michigan GOP, the Christian Coalition, and the American Family Association. I presume he's the same guy who's currently in the Michigan House of Representatives. http://www.gophouse.com/welcome.asp?District=45

Here's something from a liberal blog on McMillan:

http://www.michiganliberal.com/diary/10274/

Oct 02, 2007

Jack Lessenberry on a guy named Tom McMillin.

"Republicans did less mischief at their convention, mainly because all the top spots were already determined. They get the award, however, for picking the absolutely worst candidate for any job. That would be Tom McMillan, the former Auburn Hills mayor who became famous for his hatred of gay people. He was so over-the-top that L. Brooks Patterson called him a member of the Taliban, and once famously gave him a kiss to make fun of his obsession."

Patterson said McMillin hailed from the "Taliban wing of the Party," after McMillin used robocalls against the Oakland County executive that said he embraced the homosexual agenda. Patterson also said that McMillin wasn't a member of the Christian Coalition because, in fact, he embarrasses the Christian Coalition.

Why bring this up? Well, it's because McMillin, who finished third in last year's state Board of Education election, is heading up an Oakland County committee (Stop Hurting Michigan's Kids) that has targeted a whole slew of Oakland County legislators for recall following Sunday's vote to increase the Michigan income tax, and to tax certain services.

Getting back to Mark Forton, in 2000 he spoke at an anti-UN rally hosted by the Michigan Militia:
http://buildingdemocracy.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=419&Itemid=47
http://www.michiganmilitia.com/fieldreports/unprotest/unprotest.htm

So this "Michigan Freedom to Work" seems to be closely associated with the extremist fringe of the GOP. I guess in some quarters that could pass for grassroots...

[Festivito]

17. Nice job Starroute. And that grass ain't real, it's petrokoch astroturf, green as money.

Thanks for the post.

[CatholicEdHead]

13. Populist (faux?)movement to get less pay and benefits?

We are through the looking glass here.

[MikeMc]

15. +1, Thanks. NT.

[tclambert]

16. Whose money sponsors this group? Follow the money!

Hint: Look at the Chamber of Commerce, or the Koch brothers.

[starroute]

18. So far I'm just finding Tea Party connections

A whois lookup on michiganconservativeunion.com gives you Ron Estrada of Oxford, MI as the registrant.
http://whois.domaintools.com/michiganconservativeunion.com

Here's his Facebook page -- though there isn't much there:
http://www.facebook.com/ron.estrada1

Here's his blog -- also not updated in more than a year.
http://www.ronestradabooks.com/

The Facebook page has a link to North Oakland County Tea Party Patriots, which he runs.
http://www.nocteaparty.com/


The Tea Party Patriots are the tea party faction which is closest to the GOP establishment.

http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/tea-party-patriots-investigated

Feb. 14, 2011

Lately, Tea Party Patriots (TPP) has started to resemble the Beltway lobbying operations its members have denounced. The group's leaders have cozied up to political insiders implicated in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and have paid themselves significant salaries. TPP accepted the use of a private jet and a large donation of anonymous cash right before a key election, and its top officials have refused to discuss how the money was spent. And recently, the group has hired several big-time fundraising and public relations firms that work for the who's who of the Republican political class, including some of the GOP's most secretive campaign operations. . . .

In August, TPP inked a contract with MDS Communications, an Arizona-based phone fundraising firm that counts as clients the Republican National Committee and most of the GOP's congressional campaign organizations. MDS even handled the telephone fundraising for the Bush-Cheney reelection campaign. The firm specializes in working with the GOP's evangelical foot soldiers, including the National Right to Life Committee, Concerned Women for America, and the Family Research Council. It has been heavily involved in anti-gay marriage activities, once donating its services to help raise more than $7 million for Arizona's Proposition 102, which created a state ban on gay marriage.

[Bozita]

19. Thank you ... Good stuff!