WARREN, Mich – Michigan’s new Right to Work law has angered many in Michigan, including Warren Mayor Jim Fouts.
On his own initiative and dime, Fouts paid for the printing of 500 bumper stickers that read: “Right to Work Means Lower Wages & Benefits.”
Demand was so high that the mayor has ordered 2,500 more.
In a statement released last week, Fouts has a thoughtful explanation for his move.
“The new state law states that non-union employees and union employees both receive all benefits negotiated in a contract,” the statement read. “The difference is non-union members do not pay union dues while union members pay dues that pay the salaries of union members who negotiated the contract. And non-union members now get represented by unions in conflicts with employers.”
“I call this representation without participation.”
Fouts called the law “undemocratic and un-American” because Republicans made it immune to recall through referendum. Therefore, Fouts said, the constitutional right to reverse a legislative decision was violated.
Fouts quoted President Obama, who on his Dec. 3 visit to the Detroit Diesel plant in Redford, Mich., said, “These so-called right-to-work laws, they don’t have to do with economics, they have everything to do with politics. What they’re really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money.”
Mayor Fouts is not alone in expressing displeasure with the state’s Republicans. Polls show Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s popularity has dramatically fallen, leaving him behind any one of four possible Democratic opponents in 2014.
People can pick up a bumper sticker at Warren City Hall, 1 City Square South.
Photo: John Rummel/PW
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