A group of Michigan unions have filed a lawsuit against a law that allows corporations, but not unions, to use payroll deductions for contributions to political action committees.  The sweeping election law also banned elected officials in local governments from talking about ballot proposals or millage issues in the 60 days before an…

  A bill that would drastically change the journeyman-to-apprentice ratio on Michigan construction sites in the electrical profession has passed the State Senate and awaits the signature of Gov. Rick Snyder.  In January, the House version of the bill, HB 4813, passed by a 58-48 margin.  HB 4813, opposed by the Michigan Building and…

  While union membership rates remained unchanged nationally from 2014 to 2015, they dropped significantly in the state of Wisconsin. For the first time in its history, the state fell below the national average.  In 2015, only 8.3 percent of Wisconsin’s workforce paid dues to unions, or a total of 223,000 workers.  In 2014, roughly…

  Added at the last minute to the 53 pages of Michigan’s Senate Bill 571 — and buried, at that — was a provision that prohibits corporations from collecting contributions to a union’s political action committee.  Labor advocates have a term for this type of legislation: paycheck deception. The Republicans who snuck it in use…

  After years of negotiations and political infighting, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder will sign a bill to provide $1.2 billion in funding for roads.  Late last week the Republican-controlled Senate voted 20-18 in favor of key pieces of the legislation, which the House eventually passed.  The $1.2 billion in funding will be made up of [&hellip…;

  Protect Michigan Taxpayers, the dark money group led by the Associated Builders and Contractors and the DeVos Family, has pulled their petition to have a prevailing wage repeal initiative appear on the 2016 ballot after their own analysis showed that many of the signatures they gathered were duplicates.  The likelihood of illegal…

  The effort to repeal the prevailing wage in Michigan via ballot initiative has hit a major stumbling block. A sample taken by the state Board of Elections found that many of the signatures turned in by anti-wage front group, Protect Michigan Taxpayers, were invalid.  The labor-backed group working to fight repeal, Protect Michigan Jobs,…

  In Michigan, a group of veterans have come out in support of the prevailing wage, arguing that construction jobs can create solid careers for those who have served their country.  As we have extensively covered, a group called Protect Michigan Taxpayers collected signatures to put a prevailing wage repeal on the ballot in 2016, [&hellip…;

  On Monday, members of Michigan Prevails, an organization of construction and trades groups, held a press conference to push back against prevailing wage repeal. They called for the public to be given the chance to decide the law’s fate while contractors predicted the downfall of workforce development. The press conference coincided…

  Responding to an op-ed by former Associated Builders and Contractors officer George Hawkins that cast shadows on a Smart Cities Prevail wage study, economist Kevin Duncan dismantled the anti-union lobby’s talking points on the San Diego Source. After explaining the process by which he conducts his peer reviewed studies, Duncan…

  In Michigan, the well-funded wage opposition group Protecting Michigan Taxpayers is reporting that it is nearing the 252,523 signatures it needs to place a repeal of the prevailing wage on the ballot.  Using this method, Michigan Republicans can bypass Gov. Rick Snyder who opposes repeal and promised to veto the toxic middle class attack….

  The Michigan legislature has adjourned through Labor Day without reaching consensus on how to fund a road reconstruction deal. A day of closed-door talks last week did not solve the problem.  While both the House and Senate have passed separate funding plans, they have yet to hammer out their differences.  The Senate’s $1.5 billion…