2011-10-10 "Teachers target of Michigan collective bargaining attack" [http://www.laborradio.org/Channels/Story.aspx?ID=1552891]
Last winter Michigan saw protests at their Capitol similar to those experienced in Wisconsin and Ohio, but the primary reason for those protests was slightly different. While the other two states were defending the rights of their public sector workers to collectively bargain, Michigan was protesting a decision to provide more powers to Emergency Financial Managers that opponents of the measure said turned them into “little Napoleons.”
New legislation being pushed in the home state of the United Auto Workers could result in a return of those protests to Lansing, but this time fighting against measures very similar to Wisconsin and Ohio. On Thursday, the Michigan controlled Senate introduced “right-to-teach” legislation. The legislation would prohibit public schools from requiring employees to collect union dues or fees as a condition of employment.
It only applies to unions representing 50,000 or more employees which would indicate its primary target is the Michigan Education Association. The MEA represents more than 150,000 of the state’s teachers. The bill is a contradiction of statements made by Republican Governor Rick Snyder earlier this year that he wasn’t interested in making Michigan a right-to-work state.