Unions Try Legal Manuvers Around Michigan Right To Work Law

Pulling out all the stops, several Michigan unions are trying desperate legal measures to attempt to keep workers bound to paying forced dues.  Their attempts to make a mockery of the new Right to Work Law have not been successful.  Kristen Daum has the story in the Lansing State Journal. 

 

 

The lawsuit filed Feb. 14 is the latest in a stream of challenges against Michigan’s new labor laws, which which apply to contracts entered into after March 27.

Attorneys for United Auto Workers Local 6000, the Michigan Corrections Organization, Michigan Public Employees SEIU Local 517M and the Michigan State Employees Association are seeking clarification on the right-to-work law that pertains to public employees.

. . . there’s been debate over whether the new laws would apply to unionized state workers, because the state constitution gives the Civil Service Commission oversight over state employees, including collective bargaining agreements that apply to those workers.

In their lawsuit, attorneys for the state employee unions allege that the Legislature exceeded its constitutional authority by passing a right-to-work law that would interfere with the Civil Service Commission’s authority.

In Detroit’s U.S. District Court, several labor unions filed suit last week, claiming the right-to-work law affecting private-sector workers violates the U.S. Constitution.

Meanwhile, in Ingham County Circuit Court, unions also have filed suit seeking to void right-to-work over alleged violations of Michigan’s open meetings act, dealing with how the laws were passed by the Legislature during the lame-duck session in December.