Right to work Bills have passed both Houses of the Michigan State Legislature and the governor has already said he’d sign them into law.
Earlier today Tim Condon updated us with the video of union protesters knocking down the Americans for Prosperity tent in Lansing, trapping some activists under it. It’s sad but none of us were surprised by this. Nor are we surprised by this from a recent email blast by Tim Phillips, President of Americans For Prosperity…
Right now, the Left—union bosses, special interest groups, and even President Obama himself—is ramping up pressure for him to not sign these necessary workers’ rights reforms.
Tim Phillips continues…
We know this fight is bigger than Michigan. This fight is about giving American workers the freedom to choose what job they want, without having to forcibly give up part of their paychecks to fund a union they might not support.
And the fact that it’s happening in Michigan—the home of the United Auto Workers and the birth place of the modern labor movement—means that it could literally happen in any state across the country.
(Emphasis from original)
It could have happened in New Hampshire and it should have. But the New Hampshire Republican party failed, as it more often than not does, to provide back up for our legislators. It failed to go long and deep with media messaging in support of the benefits that workers choice provides. It even failed to rally adequate support in contrast to Democrats and unions who brought in hundred of union protesters, many from from out of state, to pressure our elected officials to vote no.
And it never tapped into the grassroots– it never really has; in fact, more often than not, the NH-GOP establishment is at odds with its own grassroots base to the point where they are on their own along with groups like AFP-NH who end up carrying the media messaging water for the GOP Platform when the party wont.
As we move the NH-GOP forward, and look at who our leaders are and who we elect to office, we should look at Michigan. We should we feel proud of what they’ve done and assuming the Republican governor does not cave and the activist judges do not undo what they’ve accomplished, we should ask, why couldn’t we succeed here? Why did we waste the best opportunity we’ve ever had to give workers the choice to support the union agenda?
If Michigan can pass it, the problem isn’t the idea of Right to Work, it is the people charged with communicating why it is better for workers, employers, jobs, the economy, towns, taxpayers, and the future growth and prosperity of our state. It is the party leaders charged with explaining why Right To Work was, and is, and should be in our platform and on the law books.
People should be free to associate, not forced to pay dues. Oh wait. It occurs to me that there are people in the NH-GOP leadership who are in favor of something similar. I guess that explains it. Or maybe they just don’t believe in Right to work at all. I can think of at least one member of the NH-GOP Executive Committee whose a big fan of unions.
Hmmmm.
Congratulations to Michigan (assuming all goes as it appears it will), to the Michigan GOP, and to AFP and everyone else who stood in the path of union thugs in defense of something that matters to all Americans; the Right to work without being forced to tithe to the left wing union gods, whether you believe in them or not.
