What Do You Think About Right-to-Work Legislation?
Post your views on the proposed right-to-work legislation by contributing to the Local Voices section of Birmingham Patch.
Do you have an opinion on the proposed right-to-work legislation?
Then we would like you to let everyone know about it by sharing it on Birmingham Patch.
All you need to do is add your opinion — it could be as short as a sentence or as long as a term paper — to our Local Voices section.
We know you have opinions on the proposed legislation. On the Birmingham Patch Facebook page, residents and readers debated the legislation in an active comment stream.
- Toby Allen Letzring: It seems (Gov. Rick Snyder) really wants to be a one term governor. People need to do their research to see how unsuccessful right-to-work states have been and what it has done to pay, benefits and employment.
- Moses Fridman: Right to work states on average have higher employment and better economic growth numbers. Do we want fewer workers with union benefits, or more jobs all around? I think Michigan needs employers to move in, and if RTW does, that then I am for it.
- Marie Best Dowler: It is about time!!! I hear a lot of people saying hey if you don't want to join the union you don't have to but when they don't join they are targeted ... right now MOST union pension funds are not even funded. If union workers really KNEW where their dues were going they would be outraged.
- Liz Schroeck: Union members know exactly where their dues go and they are outraged about right to work, not their dues. Why are anti-union people pretending that they care about union dues? If someone belongs to a union, it doesn't affect anyone.
While comment on Facebook is easy, submitting a Patch blog is just as quick: just click here and post your opinion — it's that easy!
Whether you are for or against the right-to-work bills, we would love for you to share your voice with the Birmingham community.
Keith Best
8:08 am on Monday, December 10, 2012
There is nothing wrong with having a choice and that is why this legislation must be passed and signed by the governor.
Peter J. Marr
2:24 pm on Monday, December 10, 2012
Why aren't non-union members of a business not required to pay union dues? When the union wages go up, so do the salaried wages. For that matter, why aren't consumers forced to pay union dues -- oh yea, we are! -- we get the higher prices.
Matthew Wade Wimble
5:48 pm on Monday, December 10, 2012
Note this legislation explicitly excludes police and fire. Why? Because the job could cost them their lives and when they signed up the job included collective bargaining. I think the same should apply, at least when it comes to safety provisions, to other dangerous jobs. I don't think government clerks or school teachers should retain it, but iron workers or cell tower workers should still retain the right as least so far as workplace safety. I don't think someone should lose their live just so someone else can make a few more bucks or the rest of us can have a slightly lower cell phone bill.
Matthew Wade Wimble
6:00 pm on Monday, December 10, 2012
*lose their life, not lose their live.
Racer Boy
9:33 pm on Monday, December 10, 2012
If Unions are doing a wonderful job for their members, right-to-work shouldn't be a problem for them. However, the Unions KNOW they have a very unhappy membership thus all the concern, lies, and strong-arming for which they are so famous. These are the same thugs that tried to strip their members of the right of secret ballot...what more do you need to know.
Matthew Wade Wimble
11:05 pm on Monday, December 10, 2012
Again, why exclude police and fire then?
Rick Haglund
8:13 am on Tuesday, December 11, 2012
It may have to do with the fact that police and fire unions often support Republican candidates. Plus, state police troopers and sergeants already have constitutionally protected collective bargaining rights--something they won in 1978 and is not widely known.
jack
11:34 pm on Monday, December 10, 2012
When I belonged to a union, they did absolutely nothing, except collect dues. The manager & union steward were buddies too. The unions are old and outdated, time for them to go. I have a friend that works at Ford, and his co-workers give him a hard time if we works too hard to too fast. Lets not forget the Chrysler guys that were drinking and doing drugs on company time - they just got their jobs back, with back pay! Way to go unions!
Rick Haglund
8:10 am on Tuesday, December 11, 2012
This is all about starving unions of funds, which they use, in part, to support Democratic political candidates and progressive causes. Everything else is noise.
anarchyst
2:59 pm on Tuesday, December 11, 2012
I was FORCED to "join" a union merely by being accepted for employment at one of Detroit's larger companies. While employed by this company, I was able to perform work in-house" that had previously been contracted out. My employer decided to reward me for my cost-saving initiatives with a "raise". When the "union" found out about, they ordered the company to rescind the raise (which the company did. They stated that if I were to get a "raise", ALL union members should get an equivalent "raise". The company offered to create a new "bargaining unit job classification" which was promptly rejected by the "union". Here I am, FORCED to pay union "dues" to a "union" that is "keeping me down". It took TWO YEARS and contract negotiations to add another "job classification" for me to get my raise. To this day, I have NO USE for unions. I can stand on my own merits and don't need a union to bargain for me . . . a pox on them all . . .