Bloomberg: Michigan Pro-Union Move Shows Labor Wars May Help Obama

[Omaha Steve]

By Chris Christoff on May 11, 2012

Beth Cox works at the Ford Motor Co. (F) (F) plant in Dearborn, Michigan, where her grandfather was a mechanic and a United Auto Workers official.

“I went to labor parades since I was 6,” said the 42- year-old. Now she’s working for a ballot proposal to guarantee the collective-bargaining rights her family has enjoyed for three generations, and to ban laws like the one Indiana adopted in February that allow workers to avoid paying union dues.

Cox and the petition drive are part of a Midwest resistance against anti-union laws that may help Democratic President Barack Obama win battleground states in November. The uprising began in 2011 when Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker pushed to eliminate collective bargaining for most public employees -- a measure that prompted a June 5 recall election that’s become the epicenter of the strife.

Ohio voters repealed a similar law championed by Republican Governor John Kasich in November. Now, Michigan’s Democratic base is trying to reverse what it calls attacks by Republicans meant to erode its union support. The proposed ballot measure would block or unravel laws that curb health care and pension benefits for public employees, constrain bargaining and allow financially distressed cities and school districts to cancel contracts.

FULL story at link.