HB 4003 has passed the Michigan House with a 58-51 vote. After some procedural maneuvering, the bill will should head to Governor Snyder’s desk for his signature within the next 24 hours.
From TheHill.com:
Snyder’s signature will make Michigan, which has long been a stronghold of organized labor, the 24th right-to-work state in the country.
Protesters demonstrated outside Michigan’s Capitol building in Lansing while the Republican majority legislature voted.
Democrats on both the national and local level strongly criticized the legislation, saying it seriously hemorrhages unions’ bargaining power. After the bill passed, Democrats in the Michigan House attempted to recall the legislation but the vote failed.
It still boggles the mind that people have to debate whether it is OK for one to be forced into a private organization (the labor union)–which then has the ability to pilfer a percentage of each and every paycheck–as a condition of holding employment. I wish people would look at this and wonder, if the union is so great, why then do labor unions protest so loudly and offensively when legislatures debate bills giving people a choice to join the union? If the union is so great, why is there a need to have forced unionization? Wouldn’t the people, given the choice, flock in droves to join and pay their dues? Clear, as the unions demonstrate every time a legislature debates legislation that provides people with a choice, the union knows that they will lose members and fade into irrelevancy.
