Right To Work

We all now know about Right-to-Work-for-less laws in Michigan, thanks to Republican Governor Rick Snyder and the corporate oligarchs. But, believe it or not, Right-to-Work-for-less may not even be the most radical, anti-democratic law that passed in Michigan this week. Late Wednesday, Republicans in the State House passed a new "emergency financial managers" law, which allows Rick Snyder to take over an entire city and appoint his cronies as mini-dictators who can fire all the local elected officials and take the reins of looting that city. The new law will allow Governor Snyder to break union contracts, slash budgets, and sell off parts of the commons to for-profit corporations. This is a radically anti-democratic law, and it's already been put in place in mostly-minority, cash-strapped cities like Benton Harbor, Ecorse, Pontiac, and Flint. But what's even more radical, is that just last month on Election Day, voters repealed Snyder's emergency financial managers law. Voters said, "no way!" and the law was kaput. So in response, and in a huge slap in the face to voters, Republicans just passed the law again this week. Governor Snyder claims the law is new-and-improved to address voter concerns. But the incoming Democratic House Minority Leader called the legislation a "mirror image" of the law that was repealed in November. Snyder thinks that by just changing the name of the law, he can send his mini-dictators back into the field, to take over more of Michigan's cities against the will of the voters. The Republican overreach in Michigan is unprecedented. A movement of working men and women must respond and make sure Republicans are never again given power in the Wolverine State.