Michigan Unions Rally in Lansing Against State Budget Proposals
Yesterday, over 1,000 people gathered in front of the state capitol in Lansing to participate in a solidarity rally with the current struggle in Wisconsin. The Lansing rally was just one of many that were organized across the country, where tens of thousands of people came together in support of working people in Wisconsin.
In addition to this being a solidarity rally for Wisconsin, working people in Michigan expressed their outrage at the budget proposal that Governor Snyder has put forth, which mimics Wisconsin on many levels.
Speakers at the rally addressed issues like tax breaks for the rich, further cuts to state employee benefits and pensions, further cuts to state education programs and the privatization of public services as a means to undermine organized labor.
There were numerous unions represented at the rally, many with their own signs representing the UAW, AFSME, SEIU, MEA and the CWA. In additional to unions there were also people there fighting for public education, health care and against the tax cuts that Snyder has proposed, which they believe to be another benefit for the wealthy sectors of Michigan society.
While it was encouraging to see this many people come to Lansing to stand in solidarity with working people in Wisconsin, there was little evidence that this rally and those who organized it have a strategy to take on the State government’s effort to undermine the working class. There also wasn’t a clear enough analysis of what was going on or any indication of next steps from those who organized.
Having a strategy is certainly necessary if Michigan is to mobilize people the same way the Wisconsin has been able to. Michigan needs to have the kind of leadership and commitment from some of the elected officials to not only challenge the budget proposals of Governor Snyder, but also to honestly listen to and be advocates for the citizens of Michigan.
There was one creative element of the protest, where 5 people representing Billions for Billionaires came to thank the working people for allowing them to get richer. They even created their own song for the occasion.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 
Jeff, it’s clear to me how Snyder’s proposals are going to benefit Michigan’s wealthy…(and thanks for the Billions for Billionaires film! They are great). It’s not so clear to me how his policies toward unions are close to Walker’s.
Part of my lack of clarity is all of the many articles in the mainstream media that insist that Snyder is not “interested in union-busting,” and that he doesn’t want a Wisconsin-style confrontation over collective bargaining. It’s just as hard to find details about his current policies as it was when he was being cagey about them during his campaign.
Can you offer a few details, besides proposing pay cuts to public employees, about his stance on unions?
Thanks for your reporting on this event. I hope Michigan is as prepared as Wisconsin was to hold the line on this issue.
The state is broke.
Sorry if that means state EMPLOYEES will have to feel some pain so that they wont get fired.
Or are you under the impression that those jobs are guaranteed forever?
As far as I’m concerned, if the employees of the taxpayers of Michigan want to pull a WI style stunt, they should all be fired and replaced by the many hurting taxpayers of Michigan that need a job.
But by all means, keep calling for higher taxes on businesses. You know the ones that employee state taxpayers that in turn pay taxes to keep these state workers in a job?
I’m sure all of those coffee shops, bike shops, and vegan restaurants are all run by “billionaires”, and can easily afford it, right?
I’m sure when even more of them leave for friendlier climates, you all will launch into your BS whining over the “rich and powerful” leaving the state because they are just a bunch of greedy meanies.
The public doesn’t care how many goons the public union bosses can bus in, instead of them actually working, the state’s fiscal house will be put in order. LIKE IT OR NOT.
Oh, and while I’m sure this is likely at the bottom of your list on things to investigate, why don’t you find out where all of the money is coming from to pay and coordinate all of this?
Kate, it doesn’t matter whether or not Snyder says he doesn’t want a Wisconsin-style response, because if he goes through with the proposed budget cuts it will increase the chances that we will have the same confrontation here in michigan as they are in Wisconsin.
The cuts are designed to benfit the wealthier sectors by cutting further the number of state employees, their benefits and pensions. It could also take away their collective bargaining rights, which is why some in Michigan are hell bent on making Michigan a right to Work state. If the state privatizes more of the existing public services that will likely result in public sector jobs/union jobs being lost. In many ways I see this as a form of class warfare aimed that working people in general and organized labor specifically. The private sector wants to further cripple organized labor by using the budget “crisis” as an excuse to undermine unions. The lack of municipal and state funds in not because there isn’t money, but who gets it and how it is being spent. The tax structure has since the 1950s gone in favor of the wealthy/private sectors, the military budget is draining public funds and the privatization of services makes society less democratic.
Ultimately, I think we need to see what is happening is what Naomi Klein calls an economic shock doctrine, where what the IMF/World Bank structural adjustment policies that the US has been imposing on the developing world is what is happening to working people in the US.
Jeff, I hadn’t realized that Snyder was also targeting collective bargaining because, as I said, the mainstream press keeps stressing his “moderate” approach to his plans for public employees. That, plus his constant reassurances that we’re not going to go the route of Wisconsin, have mollified a lot of people, I think. But none of his plans that ARE available for review are what I would call moderate, however.
At this point, I’m feeling that the cutting of public worker pay and benefits is also unacceptable. I know I’ve struggled with this issue locally, but now I’m starting to see it in the context of the larger pattern, which is definitely looking like union-busting and class warfare to me as well. There are lot of other cuts that could be proposed in sectors that could afford them more easily.
Recently, I saw a comment that summed it up well: that Snyder’s plan was to cut taxes for business to give them fatter profits; to cut income for public workers and senior citizens to give them less revenue.
It’s patently clear that the trend is a Gilded-Age one of constantly insisting that businesses must be propped up in the faint hope that somehow the benefit of that will trickle down to the working class. Instead, the restored businesses have been shafting their workers in order to fatten their profits even more.
We need more unions, not fewer unions. And if we don’t stand up for the ones that are left, we’re not going to be able to extend them to all the workers who need them.
If you come across resources for specific details of Snyder’s plans, I’d appreciate knowing about them. Even his State of the State speech blurred over some of the actual facts about the beneficiaries, at least it seemed to me.
I was there and was quite unimpressed with the showing, which the city of Lansing alone should have been able to provide. Where was Obama’s base at this incredibly important moment, the throngs we saw in O8 ? They’ve been deactivated, they’re a cult of personality. When Synders measures hit home, perhaps they’ll appear, which of course will expose them as hopeless slow and self interested. It was a lost opportunity that I’m sure the Governor took great pleasure in.The notice for the event was fairly short, but it seems to me that during this time, social media was typically misused on trifles, as the event failed to go viral.
And to the spy Roger Becan. The upper middle class in Michigan is hardly broke, they( you) just don’t want to pay taxes. You’re the same type who called the expiration of the Bush tax cuts a “tax hike”. Now go report to Obama or whoever your boss is, I don’t care.
There demonstrations in all 50 state capitols.