Union Busting: Michigan Style

[Purveyor]

While the nation has been focused on the contretemps in Wisconsin, the Badger State’s neighboring Wolverines have taken a more novel approach in the effort to defang its public employee unions.

A bill that is expected to pass the Michigan Senate today will give the state’s treasurer the ability to appoint emergency financial managers with broad powers to take over the operation of cities and school boards facing a financial crisis.

Those powers include the ability to nullify collective bargained agreements, imposition of new agreements for those bargaining units which will have effect for as much as five years after the EMF leaves office and the ability for the manager to dissolve local governing bodies of schools and cities. The EMF would also have the power to eliminate any local ordinance or law he or she decides to eliminate.

With Michigan and its cities already under severe financial strain – and facing a budget proposed by GOP Gov. Rick Snyder that would dramatically cut state money to cities and schools – the appointment of these emergency managers is almost a given for many of the state’s local governments and school boards.

MORE...

http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/03/09/union-busting-michigan-style/

[LiberalEsto]

1. This is frightening stuff

I am reading this with a growing sense of horror.

"Those powers include the ability to nullify collective bargained agreements, imposition of new agreements for those bargaining units which will have effect for as much as five years after the EMF leaves office and the ability for the manager to dissolve local governing bodies of schools and cities. The EMF would also have the power to eliminate any local ordinance or law he or she decides to eliminate."

What a potentially powerful tool for imposing fascism.

[bbgrunt]

2. epically frightening. I know Rachel mentioned it last

night, but have seen precious little about it otherwise.

[Shallah Kali]

3. The Michigan Messenger has been on it -

http://michiganmessenger.com/

[louslobbs]

4. Ricky boy has probably been called by the real Koch Klan to force the issue there.

A rock in the bushes type play. While we're all looking over at where the rock fell, they push through with little notice, their union busting plan.
Lou