Michigan voters rejected two union-backed efforts to amend that
state’s constitution on Tuesday despite heavy spending by big labor and a
largely unionized population.
Government employees unions led by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) proposed two amendments to the state constitution that would have made collective bargaining a constitutional right (Proposition 2) and forced family members that care for disabled relatives into the union (Proposition 4).
Despite the fact that the state’s workforce is 17.5 percent unionized—about 50 percent higher than the national average, according to a 2011 Bureau of Labor Statistics study, the most recent available—Proposition 2 lost 58 percent to 42 percent and Proposition 4 lost 57 percent to 43 percent.
“This was the number one union issue on the ballot aside from the president, but voters are resoundingly supporting labor reforms, even as voters are resoundingly accepting Obama,” said Vincent Vernuccio, a labor policy expert at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Republican Gov. Richard Snyder began enacting public sector pay and benefit reforms when he assumed office in 2011 in order to curb a $1.7 billion budget deficit he inherited from Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the government retirement system set to run dry by 2023.
Snyder backed a number of labor reform packages, including the elimination of “last-in, first-out” policies that forces school districts to lay off teachers by seniority regardless of performance.
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/labor-takes-lumps-in-michigan/
Government employees unions led by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) proposed two amendments to the state constitution that would have made collective bargaining a constitutional right (Proposition 2) and forced family members that care for disabled relatives into the union (Proposition 4).
Despite the fact that the state’s workforce is 17.5 percent unionized—about 50 percent higher than the national average, according to a 2011 Bureau of Labor Statistics study, the most recent available—Proposition 2 lost 58 percent to 42 percent and Proposition 4 lost 57 percent to 43 percent.
“This was the number one union issue on the ballot aside from the president, but voters are resoundingly supporting labor reforms, even as voters are resoundingly accepting Obama,” said Vincent Vernuccio, a labor policy expert at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.
Republican Gov. Richard Snyder began enacting public sector pay and benefit reforms when he assumed office in 2011 in order to curb a $1.7 billion budget deficit he inherited from Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm and the government retirement system set to run dry by 2023.
Snyder backed a number of labor reform packages, including the elimination of “last-in, first-out” policies that forces school districts to lay off teachers by seniority regardless of performance.
Read more: http://freebeacon.com/labor-takes-lumps-in-michigan/
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