Yesterday evening, hundreds of labor activists gathered with torches and lights outside of West Grand and Third Street as part of a statewide effort to reject Gov. Rick Snyder’s anti-worker, anti-middle class ‘right-to-work’ legislation that is tearing Michigan apart.

The legislation, passed at the demands of wealthy, corporate interests including the Koch Brothers, Dick DeVos of AMWAY, General Electric, JP Morgan Chase, Exxon and many others.

This event was a mass showing of faith, community, labor and progressive organizations who are working together to build a mass movement for justice against this attack on Michigan’s working middle-class.

Nurses took a stand against “Gov. Snyder, right-wing politicians, Dick Devos and greedy corporations who want to silence workers and destroy Michigan” on Monday. (From the Michigan Nurses Association Facebook page.)

Following Rick Snyder’s signing of Right to Work legislation- choosing to send Michigan into two years of political turmoil- community members across Michigan will protest his “divisive”, ideological, and anti-Middle Class agenda tomorrow, Wednesday, December 12th.

Join fellow workers at an event near you.

Events:

Detroit:

What: Silent Protest

Where: Office of Urban Affairs, Cadillac Place, 3044 W Grand Blvd, Detroit

When: 11:00am

Lansing:

What: Silent Protest

Where: Roundabout on corner of Michigan and Washington

When: 11:00am

Saginaw:

What: Silent Protest

Where: City Hall, 1315 South Washington Avenue, Saginaw

When: 11:00am

Kalamazoo:

What: Silent Protest

Where: Bronson Park, 290 South Rose Street

When: 11:00am

Grand Rapids:

What: Silent Protest

Where: 725 Lake Michigan Drive, Republican Headquarters

When: 11:30am

Marquette:

What: Silent Protest

Where: Governor Snyder’s Office, 244 Baraga St.

When: 3:00pm

Email wearemich@gmail.com to let us know you’ll be there!

A picture of the votes posted on House Bill 4003, so-called Right to Work legislation for public employees. Picture via Rep. Barb Byrum (D-Onondaga) on Twitter.

After 90 minutes of intense debate, the Michigan State House of Representatives voted 58-51 today to pass a so-called “right to work” bill for public employees. They are now considering a bill for private sector employees.

Right after the vote on public sector employees, the gallery started shouting “Shame on You.”  Governor Snyder has previously stated he did not favor Right to Work legislation, but recently reversed himself after bowing to the pressure of conservative groups like Americans for Prosperity.

Last-minute appeals by Democrats to remove an appropriation in the bill — which would have allowed the bill to be put up to a statewide vote — were not considered. Republicans didn’t allow for roll call votes on the amendments, which lead to passionate speeches on the House floor.

Neither of these bills has been subjected to a minute of public discussion or a single committee hearing and not a single Democrat has supported the legislation.

The bill regarding private sector employees is also expected to pass.

UPDATE: The House passes SB 116 58-52. Bill heads to Governor Snyder.

Today, thousands of workers from Michigan and across the nation are gathering to participate in a Day of Action at the State Capitol Building in Lansing, Michigan and we’re covering all the action live on our Storify feed below.

Local 4 News photo. Nurses protesting RTW4Less today in Lansing.

Cross-posted from Leslie Miller at Teamster Nation:
The Washington Post headline tells the story: “Right to work” push guarantees all out war in Michigan.

Michigan’s congressional delegation today told Gov. Rick Snyder to veto the bill as a third day of protests broke out. Tomorrow is expected to bring a historic number of protesters to a Day of Action in Lansing. Already we hear from @Eclectablog that Michigan State Police will be “barricading the City of Lansing” tomorrow. 

Today, we’re hearing about a silent protest in Grand Rapids, a rally outside U.S. Rep. Dan Benishek’s office in the Upper Peninsula and anti-RTW4Less caroling in Ann Arbor. Nurses just now held a protest on the Capitol steps. ClickOnDetroit.com reports,

Members of the Michigan Nurses Association are protesting right-to-work legislation at the state Capitol by covering their mouths with tape. 

About a dozen nurses stood on the Capitol steps in Lansing on Monday morning. Organizers say the gathering was meant to symbolize the silencing of unions that nurses say will happen should the legislation become law. 

Katie Oppenheim, who works at the University of Michigan Health System, says the legislation would leave them with “no security” and “no rights.”

Cross posted from Leslie Miller at Teamster Nation:

Actually, the Benedict Arnold Koch brothers aren’t the only un-American billionaires to buy radical Republicans in Michigan. Ponzi scheme Amway heir Dick DeVos spent big to get himself the right to lower workers’ wages by $1,500 a year.

Let’s be clear: Gov. Rick Snyder and the Republicans railroading the right-to-work-for-less bill through the Legislature know it’s bad for workers. They know it will lower wages and increase poverty. And they know most people know that. That’s why they spent two years lying about their intentions.  They were too spineless to tell the voters what they intended to do.

The spines of these cowardly Republicans were stiffened by the largesse of the Kochs, DeVos and other politically active billionaires. The plutocrats spent $18 million over the past four years to create protective cover for Republicans to attack workers.

They did it by setting up front groups with deceptive names. They paid for sophisticated market research. They sprinkled fairy dust like “freedom” and “choice” around their attacks on workers. They created a smoke-and-fog machine to promote the misnamed “right to work,” which conveys no rights and provides no work.

The chart above shows the sad mismatch between the money spent by the un-American billionaires to fight unions (purple and green) and the amount spent to support them (yellow). The Mackinac Center (green) receives considerable support from DeVos. The Koch brothers fund Americans for Prosperity (purple).  They also support the nefarious ALEC, which drafted large sections of the right-to-work bill.

Lee Fang at The Nation explains,

These organizations are part of a more aggressive political force that is adept at controlling the twenty-four-hour news cycle and managing coalitions. Unlike ordinary business lobbies that simply support right-to-work, these advocacy groups go out and shape public opinion through broad messaging and content development, which in turn is used for organizing around policies.

Fang points out that a DeVos lackey founded a group last month that paid for a $1 million television and radio campaign to promote right-to-work-for-less. The ads were launched on the very day Snyder announced his “reversal” on the legislation. Meanwhile several business lobby groups regurgitated the Mackinac Center’s propaganda.

Writes Fang,

The Mackinac Center is a right-wing think tank in Michigan that produces pro-Right to Work reports, sponsors a pro-Right to Work legal foundation, and produces an array of other content, from a Pininterest page to short videos. The Center has gone on a media tour, touting Snyder’s move this week on CNN, Fox Business, and much of the Michigan press. Notably, the group recently started two of its own media outlets, Michigan Capitol Confidential and Watchdog Wire Michigan. 

Americans for Prosperity – Michigan, the group founded by the billionaire Koch brothers, has a relatively new chapter in Michigan that has produced pamphlets extolling anti-Right to Work reforms. This week, the group set up a heated tent outside the capital to support Snyder’s law and bused activists to Lansing to counter labor protesters.

Once the deed is done, Republicans can expect lavish vacations from ALEC. They’ll get hefty corporate donations for their re-election campaigns. When they retire, or if the voters boot them, they’re quite likely to land a lucrative gig working for the Mackinac Institute or some Koch-funded propaganda think tank.

Nice work if you can get it. The rest of us, of course, are just screwed.

Teamsters from Joint Council 43 joined the Oakland Mall protest.

Cross posted from Leslie Miller on 12.09.12 at Teamster Nation:
(UPDATES with news coverage of Oakland Mall protest.)

Today Michigan got a taste of what the civil war over next two years will look like if right-to-work-for-less becomes law. Protests broke out all over the state.

Union members and their families sang anti-right-to-work carols at shopping malls, held mock auctions of the middle class and rallied outside Republican lawmakers’ offices.

The protests were a run up to Tuesday’s Day of Action in Lansing, which is drawing interest from union supporters throughout the Midwest and beyond.

In Troy, Brother Al Young from Joint Council 43 joined carolers at the Oakland Mall. The Detroit Free Press reported,

They looked jolly in red scarves and reindeer antler headbands, but the carolers outside of Oakland Mall in Troy on Sunday were actually protesters conveying a serious message: No to right-to-work legislation in Michigan. 

And they delivered their feelings about proposed bills and Gov. Rick Snyder through pointed, modified Christmas carols. Think “Frosty the Snowman.” 

“Rick-y Snyder knew he couldn’t get his way — so he took the votes from the working folks so the wealthy get our pay,” they sang.

In Kalamazoo, protesters targeted a Republican lawmaker who voted for right-to-work. Michigan Live reported,

More than 60 protestors sang anti-right-to-work carols and delivered a bag of coal to Sen. Tonya Schuitmaker’s office on the South Kalamazoo Mall. Schuitmaker, R-Antwerp Township…

Protesting right-to-work today at the Oakland Mall.

One of the carols targeting Gov. Rick Snyder, sung to the tunes of Jingle Bells, had these lyrics:

“Snyder yells, Snyder yells, Snyder yells, ‘no way.’ We will fight to keep things right. Right-to-work ‘no way!

Protestors also carried signs that read “Right 2 Work Hurts Working Families,” “Snyder is Tearing Michigan Apart” and “Protect Working Families.”

In Macomb County, several dozen people came to a mock auction. A teacher auctioned off the middle class while Channel 7 ABC covered the event.

In Saginaw, union members held a flash mob and sang a Christmas song the food court at the Fashion Square Mall in Saginaw. We understand it was a hit, with shoppers taking video and cheering.

…and we’re not quite sure what this is about Joshua Pugh tweeted:

Crazy scene at Lk Lansing & Marsh – person laying in street, cars stopped in intersection, people directing traffic @LSJNews @wilxTV

These are the ones we know about. We’ll keep you posted as we learn details about the others.