Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Here's what's coming next from ALEC

Five putrid anti-union, anti-worker, anti-middle-class bills are on the agenda for next year's legislative sessions in the states. They didn't actually originate with ALEC; they came from a couple of anti-union, anti-worker, anti-middle-class think tanks: Arizona's Goldwater Institute and Michigan's Mackinac Center for Public Policy. But they were unveiled at an ALEC confab in Charlotte, N.C.

Mother Jones tells us:
Goldwater representative Byron Schlomach introduced two bills, one requiring that public employees annually approve their employer's automatic deduction of union dues from paychecks. Another would prohibit union officials from taking paid leave from public-sector jobs to perform union duties.
The Mackinac Center sent labor policy analyst Paul Kersey to introduce three more bills targeting unions. One of those model bills is already Michigan law, requiring public-sector unions to make public audits of their financial activities. Another Mackinac proposal would require public-sector union members to vote on their union membership every three to five years, and a third would make it easier for public and private employees to decertify their unions.
Charming.