Last week, after Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and state Republican lawmakers launched an unexpected anti-union crusade, the Obama White House issued a statement criticizing so-called "right-to-work" laws.
With this in mind, and following up on Laura Conaway's reporting earlier, President Obama was in Michigan today, where he was even more forceful in condemning the proposal that Snyder has not yet signed into state law.
President Barack Obama weighed in on the contentious labor battle playing out in Michigan, condemning the Republican push to make Michigan a so-called "right-to-work" state as nothing more than a partisan maneuver that will hurt the working class.
"We should do everything we can to keep creating good middle-class jobs that help folks rebuild security for their families," Obama said Monday in a speech at the Daimler Detroit Diesel plant.
"And by the way, what we shouldn't do -- I've just got to say this -- what we shouldn't be doing is trying to take away your rights to bargain for better wages and working conditions," he added to loud applause from the audience. "We shouldn't be doing that. The so-called 'right-to-work' laws -- they don't have to do with economics, they have everything to do with politics. What they're really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money."
The president's scheduled trip to Detroit was originally focused on visiting Diesel's Redford engine plant, but the controversy surrounding the state Republicans' anti-union push, not surprisingly, added new significance to today's speech.
Greg Sargent, commenting on Obama's remarks, added, "Obama hit all the right notes. He pointed out that 'right to work' laws are not about boosting the economy, but about crippling the political opposition; that they are not about freedom, but about weakening workers' ability to organize for better pay; that unions have long played a critical role in providing a path to the middle class; and that investing in a trained, well represented work force is the way to produce a broadly shared prosperity -- rather than a 'race to the bottom' -- that is better for the country as a whole."
Update: Here's the transcript of the president's remarks.
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There is an excellent post at Gawker.com titled "It's Time to Tie Executive Pay to Worker Pay" by Hamilton Nolen. It discusses how Caterpillar is squeezing employee pay despite record profits and record CEO pay, because it can, not because it is necessary. Weakened unions are part of the reason they will succeed.
Direct ratios, with benefits and bonuses and all compensations included. Let's be generous, say 20-to-1 between highest to lowest. If that happened, I'm pretty sure we'd have an interest in raising the minimum wage.
Reagan had it right: unionizing is a basic human right. And we should be pushing for federal acknowledgement of this right. This fight isn't just about Michigan.
Is that the same Reagan that killed the Air Traffic Control worker's union?
REAGAN had it right? Reagan busted the PATCO union from the White House and opened the season on all union busting, and the season has just been extended to all year long over time. REAGAN had it right? The amount of money spent replacing the busted union traffic controllers dwarfed what they asked for, and in the interim all air traffic was curtailed. This is leadership? He just undid 50 years of union gains in one action. He may have talked the talk, Screen Actors Guild president that he was (and management stooge that he was, settling a strike in 1959 that damaged SAG forever--maybe people have forgotten that he was forced to resign over his botched handling of the SAG strike?), but he was an idiot, and change the face of commerce in the United States forever. Unintended consequences much? Now Governor Walker and Governor Snyder are doing their best Reagan impression but getting all the words wrong. Well, there they go again.
I would not be so optimistic as to believe that unions have learned some hard lessons from the past. Corruption, outlandish pay and benefit packages, industry killing negotiations and contracts, all these have given unions a well deserved black eye. But, they are also pretty much the only line of defense workers have against unscrupulous employers at a time when legislators, for personal political reasons, tend to kiss the hand of business and ignore the masses. Management can blame only itself if unions regain the strength of past glory days.
"Corruption, outlandish pay and benefit packages, industry killing negotiations and contracts, all these have given management a well-deserved black eye."
There, fixed it for you.
Sorry, any problems caused by unionization are dwarfed in comparison to the incompetence and corruption displayed by upper management, yet strangely enough, the first group to be blamed is always the union. As best I can tell, the only "hard lessons" unions need to learn is how to buy the support of the MSM so that in the future management will always get the blame.
However, as those wh*res have already sold themselves, the cost is undoubtedly beyond the unions' means.
The GOP, throwing workers rights back to the 1800's.
Every non-CEO advocate of RTW should go to their employer and ask for a cost of living wage. And while they're at it, ask if they could pay for their health care. And seeing how they are already in the office of their employer, ask if they could take a little time off, with pay of course, so they can take care of their sick wife/children. I am sure the employer would gladly agree to all that employee seeks to improve their life.
Every CEO advocate of RTW will do everything they can to bust unions (PERIOD)!
I expect the same here in WI. As the President said it's about Politic's, And Walker failed to hand over our State to Romney and RYAN. BOHICA
I would say Ryan failed to hand over your state to Romney and Ryan.
When CEO's say we need to keep wages low to remain competitive why are they exempt?
while we're all fighting over rtw, they're also pushing major anti-abortion legislation at the same time. pissed off retribution?
Making policy through one's own prejudices - yes, Governor, I'm talking about you and your political brand - is an asinine way to govern!
All of us have equal moral worth, but the dear governor from Michigan is showing us what happens when he loses his, and tries to take it out on the dignity of labor in the state that drove our nation to pass the Wagner Act in the first place!
Has this world become so cruel, or is it just the cruelty in Michigan we have to worry about? -Kevo
The republicans keep digging a deeper hole everytime the open their mouth. This action in Michigan will only hurt their party and it's idotic Gov. I really hope the Republicans keep making stupid non-issues and maybe the party will dissolve away. I remeber the Ike Republicans. They were much smarter then and helped to make post war America a great nation. I worked for a few years in Arizona as an electrician.. Union pay for electrician in the 80's was $35.00 an hour. I worked in the right-to-work state and made 4.50 per hour. Went back to college and moved to Ohio. Much better here.
I don't think it is just Michigan, Kevo, in all seriousness.
How cruel is the Texas educational system stripping history.
How cruel is Arizona law enforcement.
How cruel is media blanketing citizens with lies and propaganda.
How cruel is this do-nothing Congress in times of economic and environmental struggles at home and abroad.
How cruel is this determination to undo the social advances made regarding race, gender, disabilities, other religions, or sexual orientation.
History is full of what happens when cruelty begins it's terrible drum beat. We've been hearing that drum beat steadily increase in the United States since the Clinton era, and it's becoming more loud every single day.
It's more than just Michigan, my friend.
If Republicans think President Obama is going to rest on his laurels, they are sadly mistaken. He will be out there campaigning for the next 4 years, and Republicans will lose again. He is a champion for the people who put him in office because he believes in them, not because these are just talking points.
President Obama has more intelligence than the whole Republican Party put together. I have faith in Obama. He is trying to work for the quickly dissapearing middle class. the GOP works for the rich who line their pockets with money. It amazes me how many people are brainwashed by Fox news. The people that watch Fox evidently don't know that Fox went to court claiming they were entertainment and can actually lie to everybody. How can people believe this station, they lied when they told their viewers it was a close race, what a laugh and Fox viewers believed it. Romney never had a chance in hell. If I misspelled some words it's because I didn't run it by my personal office assistant.
So is anyone from MSNBC going to Lansing tomorrow to see what happens when crowds protest this?
Republicans seem intent on policies that will alienate more and more people for more and more reasons.
Well Listen to some of these people putting unions down well watch in the next few years with the RIGHT TO WORK STATE and people going that way we will be completley in control of Republicans and big business see where we will be at then.
Hard to make anything out of your statement. Democrats control, so why would you think "Republicans and big business" control?
By the way, southern states are growing Leaps & Bounds during the past 30 years as "Right to Work States".....Georgia's population has almost doubled because people actually find WORK here. Where do you live? All that "right to work" means is that people are not obligated to join unions.......wow, CHOICE, what a concept!!!
I grew up in Georgia, lived there until 2008. You must be living in a different Georgia from the one I knew, Mike. Has Georgia really changed so much in 5 years?
And St. Ronnie was the teapub that started openly getting rid of union representation and dumping union workers. We are talking 30 years of this union-busting party. Now they see no need to hide because of their slogans. Right to work, my eye. Most like the right to stay in poverty forever and being called lazy, stupid and a slacker when you have NO opportunities to crawl out of it.
???? What in the heck did you just TRY to say? English please.
I understood him perfectly, Mike.
Nothing dumber than a Republican squealing like a castrated pig then settling down for lovely two course meal.
Rick,
How do castrated pigs squeal? Do you perform castrations and own a farm?
Actually, I have heard a boar being turned into a barrow. They do squeal. It isn't very pleasant.
Simple....Obama's on the wrong side of history....at least, American history. He's a loser on this issue.....and everyone in America truly knows this in their hearts. Unions protect (mostly) the uneducated, in today's world,
My grandfather was a coal miner in West Virginia. He got Black Lung from years in the mines and the union benefits were a boon to him. Guess what?....he deserved the benefits.
These types of health conditions (and/or horrible working conditions) no longer exist in most of the American workforce. Most of you in unions, like my uncle, are simply pining for benefits. The unions have ceased to fulfill a function....they simply collect dues and espouse benefits for comfortable citizens.
Your actual working conditions are great, and you damn well know it. Please stop bitching in Michigan and other places about our system.
Your argument is on the wrong side of history. It is the same argument certain people use for abortion, people who oppose it and then we find they've managed to provide one for their mistress or daughter.
The Republican State Governors (and other State public Officials) are incorrect into believing that they are above the Constitution. Since the Constitution is the Supreme Law of the Land (especially the equal protection, due process, freedom of religion, and freedom of speech; which were the real basis of the American Revolution and the Civil War), the Governor, State Attoreny General, and State Legislator have to follow the U.S. Constitution even before they can follow anything else.
As such, any attempt to integrate a right to work (which is really an emplyers privilege to fire and hire at will) statute) would likely be viewed as a strong-arm attempt of the Republican Ruling Class (upper .1%) to overcome their sworn duty to preserve, protect, and defend theU.S. Constitution, which is also known as treason. As such, it is likely that antitrust and constitutional challenges from the Fedeal level can be applied to those public figures (both in the private as well as public) who refuse to follow their Constitutional oath and are placing themselves above the remainder of the "We the People". Similarly, lawyers and judges who follow any anti-Constitutional statute like privilege for employers to fire and hire (in a politically or class-driven discriminatory manner) instead of the Constitution would be risking their own privilege to practice in their respective public figure positions.
The Republican Ruling Class Privatizers (upper .1%, as embodied by Mitt Romney and other state and Federal politicians such as Michigan's Governor) are pitting themselves against the remainder of the 99.9% of We the People. If they believe they can place themselves above the Constitution, then they are incorrrect and such failure to obey the Constitution should be seen as an attack on the rest of We the People for their own selfish purposes.