FlintTalk.com Forum Index > Political Talk Topic: Should Michigan Become a Right-to-Work State?

Author    Post   Steve Myers Site Admin Another way to phrase this question is, "Should Michigan workers be compelled to join and/or pay fees to a labor organization to get a job or to keep one?" Those who answer in the affirmative will wrap their argument in rhetorical flourishes about their concern for workers, but they must ultimately explain why force should supplant the judgment and the freedom of those very workers. Right-to-work, in its broadest application, simply means freedom of choice in the labor market. To many workers, it's a concept as American as baseball and apple pie. To today's union leadership, it's a scary notion because it means they would actually have to earn the voluntary approval of their membership by treating them as customers rather than as captives. The American labor movement's founder, Samuel Gompers, understood the importance of freedom of choice and was not afraid of it. He once told workers, "I want to urge devotion to the fundamental of human liberty—to the principles of voluntarism. No lasting gain has ever come from compulsion . . . the workers of America adhere to voluntary institutions in preference to compulsory systems which are held to be not only impractical, but a menace to their rights, their welfare and their liberty." Read more: http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=3354 _________________ Steve Myers Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:08 pm  FlintConservative F L I N T O I D Whether Michigan should or should not is totally irrelevant. It won't happen. Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:52 pm  last time here Guest welllllllll, ya never know FC. i have heard there is a push for that here. _________________ Guest post Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:55 pm  andi03 F L I N T O I D I don't mean to sound negative or anything, I hope that it's not construed this way: In the beginning Unions were necessary to prevent worker deaths and to prevent people from losing limbs, and to prevent wrongful termination (look buggy-eyed at the boss and get fired, kinda thing. In Fenton right next to the Fenton Hotel, my Grandpa used to call the place the "Finger Factory" because everyone that worked there, were guaranteed to lose fingers. I can't remember the name of the joint. My grandma remembers her dad telling a story of a scab that crossed the picket line during the sit down strike and was flattened, literally by a press. Now that society has changed and laws have been enacted to prevent workplace accidents for people that are non union (OSHA, MIOSHA), in my opinion, are unions really as necessary as they were in the 1930's? Granted unions are good for a couple of the aforementioned examples, like the buggy-eyed example and wrongful termination. I don't know I am really 50/50 on this........opinions? Please?! _________________ Build a bridge and get over it! Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:56 pm  FlintConservative F L I N T O I D quote: last time here schreef: welllllllll, ya never know FC. i have heard there is a push for that here. Yes, LT, there is a push...but the unions will never let it happen. Wed Jan 09, 2008 8:25 pm  Public D F L I N T O I D Quick, before it's removed: http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/the-anti-union-network/home/ Thu Jan 10, 2008 4:14 pm  Opprimo F L I N T O I D quote: andi03 schreef: I don't mean to sound negative or anything, I hope that it's not construed this way: In the beginning Unions were necessary to prevent worker deaths and to prevent people from losing limbs, and to prevent wrongful termination (look buggy-eyed at the boss and get fired, kinda thing. In Fenton right next to the Fenton Hotel, my Grandpa used to call the place the "Finger Factory" because everyone that worked there, were guaranteed to lose fingers. I can't remember the name of the joint. My grandma remembers her dad telling a story of a scab that crossed the picket line during the sit down strike and was flattened, literally by a press. Now that society has changed and laws have been enacted to prevent workplace accidents for people that are non union (OSHA, MIOSHA), in my opinion, are unions really as necessary as they were in the 1930's? Granted unions are good for a couple of the aforementioned examples, like the buggy-eyed example and wrongful termination. I don't know I am really 50/50 on this........opinions? Please?! Pretty honest observations in my opinion, however I do still see the need for unions in the workplace as corporate greed flies out of control and Business Ethics is openly laughed on prime time TV (a euphemism but makes my point) It is easy to pick a few points & slam Unions on them as they themselves have become corporate monsters and suffer the same human syndrome of greed and corruption in the higher ranks... the average union worker however generally stays clear of this and doesn't mind putting in a day's work for his check. My problem with Right to Work is that it further invites the government and all of its compounded corruption to get its dirty little fingers in the pie... and futher takes away options for the worker and business owner both. _________________ All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent. Thu Jan 10, 2008 5:00 pm    Display posts from previous:   All Posts1 Day7 Days2 Weeks1 Month3 Months6 Months1 Year Oldest FirstNewest First

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