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What great news! The following is from a press release issued by the MI AFL-CIO -
3,500 Anti-Right to Work Activists Assist Presidential Primary Voters at Michigan Polls and Fight Off Petition Effort Lansing -
Over 3,500 activists monitored polling places for a potential Right to Work petition drive on primary day, Tuesday, January 15th statewide.
“The Labor community, along with other allies of Michigan’s working families, is sending a very powerful message to special interests that ‘Right to Work’ isn’t going to happen in Michigan. Although the Right to Work forces are gone for now, we intend to continue educating people on the importance of a good job to our state’s economy. We’re not going to bring the economy back by cutting wages,” stated Mark Gaffney, President of the Michigan State AFL-CIO.
The AFL-CIO and the Michigan Education Association combined forces with the Change to Win coalition and trained volunteers to educate Michigan voters for the primary.
“We want to thank our union affiliates – the Michigan Education Association and the Change to Win unions – who worked alongside the AFL-CIO during this huge effort. Michigan Labor is united once again in our efforts to protect living standards of all union and non-union Michigan workers,” proclaimed President Gaffney.
"Right to Work" proponents will stop at nothing to trick voters into thinking this deceptive proposal will help the economy. But the evidence is overwhelming that it will do nothing but harm workers rights and wages.
The real way to improve our economy is to invest in education. But "Right to Work" states spend about $2,400 less per student on K-12 education. And dropout rates run 18 percent higher in those states. That's a bad model for us to follow. Let's invest in education and prepare the next generation of Michigan workers for 21st Century jobs. That will fuel our economy and provide working families with a secure future.
I'm curious if there's been any update on whether any RTW petitions were circulated. As of 1pm yesterday, someone at the Detroit AFL-CIO office said there were none they were aware of. The MI AFL-CIO website hasn't been updated with the results of the campaign. Did the RTW petition circulators just not come, or did they only target certain polling places?
In my very unofficial observer status, I would also point out that from a conservative point of view, it would be rather foolish to press issue that would force labor to turn out large numbers at the poll in a year when there is no incumbent in the White House and it's anybody's game. Labor has traditionally turned out large progressive, Democratic numbers and it would be bad for a Republican candidate. - But that's just my two cents. :-)
Thanks for following along!