UPDATE 1-Michigan Atty General Rejects Union
Bargaining-rights Ballot Bid
By DAVID BAILY
Aug. 4, 2012
Reuters
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/08/04/usa-campaign-
michigan-idINL2E8J3EOR20120804

Aug 3 (Reuters) - A proposed referendum that would
enshrine the right to collective bargaining in
Michigan's state constitution is too complicated for
the ballot, the state's top legal official said,
dealing a major blow to the labor movement's campaign
for the measure.

Attorney General Bill Schuette, a Republican, said in a
legal analysis obtained by the Detroit Free Press and
published on Friday that Michigan ballot measures are
limited to 100 words and the implications of the
proposed measure are so numerous that it would be
impossible to communicate them.

"Just to give a single word to each constitutional and
statutory alteration would require double the allowable
words," Schuette wrote.

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 Aug. 8, and a decision whether to
place it before voters by a state election board is
expected by mid-August.

The coalition includes the AFL-CIO labor federation,
the United Auto Workers and the Michigan Education
Association.

In an analysis prepared at Governor Rick Snyder's
request and dated July 20, Schuette said the proposed
referendum could limit or eliminate parts of 18
provisions in the state constitution and 170 state
laws, and raises fundamental questions about the future
control of private and public employment in Michigan.

In addition to publishing the analysis, The Free Press
posted a copy on its website.

The union organizers responded quickly Friday.
"Silencing the voice of all voters on the basis of a
faulty legal argument defies the spirit of democracy
and protections offered to citizens by our
constitution," Dan Lijana, spokesman for the petition
organizers, said in a statement.

DIVISIVE ISSUE

Snyder's spokeswoman, Sara Wurfel, said the governor
had not taken an official position and sought the
attorney general's opinion because there have been many
questions about what the measure would and would not
do.

"He has been pretty clear all along that he believes
measures like this have a tendency to be divisive and
we actually already use collective bargaining in
Michigan and have a long history of doing so," Wurfel
said.

Only a handful of states, including Florida and
Missouri, protect union activity such as collective
bargaining in state constitutions, while 23 states have
"right to work" laws that bar employers from requiring
workers to pay fees for union representation. Snyder is
also on record opposing a "right to work" law.

Earlier in 2012, Indiana became the latest state to
adopt a "right to work" law and the first in the
industrial Midwest.

Unions also suffered a setback in Wisconsin earlier
this summer when Republican Governor Scott Walker
survived a recall election prompted by a new state law
he championed that severely reduced the power of
public-sector unions such as teachers.

The Michigan ballot measure would cripple efforts to
pass a "right to work" law in the state, which has been
hit hard by the decades-long struggles of Detroit-based
automakers.

Critics say the Michigan measure would discourage
businesses from bringing new jobs to the state and
encourage some to leave. Experts say the proposal
likely would increase voter turnout in the fall
presidential election.

The United Auto Workers union is a significant though
diminished political force in Michigan following heavy
job losses in the auto industry.

Unions also are asking Michigan voters to repeal a law
that widened the powers of state-appointed emergency
managers to cut spending in municipalities and school
districts deemed to be experiencing a "financial
emergency." Such spending cuts have resulted in the
loss of union jobs among teachers, police officers and
firefighters.

The Michigan Supreme Court on Friday ruled that the
emergency manager law repeal question should be on the
ballot.

That law has been used to take over more than half a
dozen financially ailing cities and school systems in
the state in recent years and to void union contracts.

____________________________________________

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