Whether or not a non-elected administrative board wishes otherwise.
The Michigan Legislature’s right to create a law that bans mandatory union membership trumps the authority of a state agency that oversees public employment, an appeals court ruled on Thursday.
The state legislature passed the “right to work” law in December amid union protests in Lansing, dealing a stunning blow to organized labor in the state that is home to U.S. automakers and the symbol of industrial labor in the United States.
The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the legislature had the authority to create the law that makes union fees voluntary because it has the constitutional right to “speak for the people on matters of significant public concern.”
More here. Basically, the plaintiffs were ostensibly state public union members who were upset that they were being forced to… not have to pay union dues if they didn’t want to. Ha! Just kidding: the plaintiffs were state public union leadership cadres who are terrified as heck that right-to-work would walker their membership rolls. Which it would; hence, the lawsuit. And good luck getting that exception to the Supreme Court there, guys! No, seriously, good luck. Right-to-work enshrined at the federal level would give me enough screaming lunacy from the Left to write about for, well, forever.
Via Hot Air.
Moe Lane
You would think the legislature would have greater authority than a state agency they created and funded, yes?
Given the last 5 years of this funny business at the Federal level, why not try it at the state level too?
One might also note that the legislature enacted the laws that allowed mandated union membership so why wouldn’t they have the ability to change said laws to not allow mandated union membership? One might also point out the dictionary definition of “legislature”.
“walker their membership rolls”
I see what you did there. And I approve. 🙂
The Democrats blew this on another (a whole nother, as I prefer) level here too, but it requires a little history. The Michigan Supreme Court had a 4-3 split favoring Republicans at the last election. The Democract had a sho at flipping the court but were unable to make any gains in 2012, I think in part due to the unpopularity of the Democratic gubernatorial candidates and the not well liked (putting it mildly) outgoing governor Jennifer Grandholm. Republican candidates did well up and down the ticket. After the election, it came out that Democratic Justice Diane Hathaway was cartoonishly corrupt (surprising for a Democrat, I know) and she had to step down when she plead guilty to mortgage fraud. Current governor Rick Snyder was then allowed to appoint a Republican Justice to replace her. The current Supreme Court makeup is now 5-2 Republican, giving the unions no chance at all to overturn this court of appeals decision. Had the appeals decision when the other way, however, our side would have been more than happy to move this up the ladder. The democrats could have overturned the right to work law if (a) Jenifer Grandholm had not spent her time as governor constantly thinking of ways to piss of the electorate and (b) Diane Hathaway had any sort of ethics.