Thread: Meanwhile In Lansing, Michigan... US labor union movement dealt another crushing Blow

Meanwhile In Lansing, Michigan...


Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/11/2012 15:34 -0500

• Ben Bernanke
• Michigan
• New Normal
• Reuters

Hours ago, the US labor union movement was dealt another crushing blow (the most recent being the recent liquidation of Hostess which left thousands of workers cold and unemployed just in time for Thanksgiving) when the Michigan legislature gave final approval to "right-to-work" restrictions on public sector unions in a state considered a stronghold of organized labor.

In the meantime, over 10,000 protesters had gathered outside the legislature, chanted in the gallery, and generally expressed their displeasure quite vocally with this development that further set back labor in its endless fight against capital. As Reuters reports, "the House passed the measure making membership and payment of union dues voluntary for public sector employees such as teachers by a 58-51 vote. The only government workers excluded would be police and fire unions. The Senate approved the same bill last week so it will now go to Republican Governor Rick Snyder, who has promised to sign it into law."

Incidentally, these same workers would be better advised to direct their anger at Chairman Bernanke who has done everything in his power in the past several years to shift the balance of power far more in benefit of capital courtesy of ZIRP and zero cost of capital, which allows companies to cut as many workers as needed in order to pursue the almight bottom line dollar, while extracting unprecedented productivity gains out of those still employed, as workers no longer can fall back on savings and are forced to accept any labor conditions in a New Normal world in which living paycheck to paycheck is becoming the norm for most, and thus giving employers all the leverage.

But that is a philosophical debate for a different place. But for now, here are two short clips to serve as a harbinger of what may and most likely will happen in the US as labor unions are stripped of even more power in the coming months and years, showcasing their reluctance to go gentle into that good night. This is how close the US is from violence at any one moment.



UNIONS ASSAULT ON CAMERA!! - YouTube



Violent Mob Destroys AFP Tent in Lansing, Michigan Protest - YouTube

Has the Syntagma riotcam finally crossed the Atlantic?


Meanwhile In Lansing, Michigan... | ZeroHedge

Luckily, nobody was seriously hurt this time.

WHITE HOUSE RESPONDS TO MICH. REP’S VOW THAT ‘THERE WILL BE BLOOD’: WE’RE NOT SURE THAT MEANS WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS

Posted on December 11, 2012 at 4:46pm by Becket Adams

Michigan, a traditional stronghold for organized labor, is currently engaged in an all-out struggle to become the Rust Belt’s second right-to-work state — and some people aren’t taking it very well.

“We are about to undue 100 years of [labor progress],” said Rep. Douglas Geiss (D-Mich.) on Tuesday. “And there will be blood.”



“We will relive the Battle of the Overpass,” he added, referring to a violent 1937 incident involving union workers and Ford Motor Company security guards.

Needless to say, Rep. Geiss’ choice of words has raised a few eyebrows. And considering the fact that President Obama on Monday threw himself headlong into Michigan’s right-to-work struggle, a few reporters felt it was necessary to get the White House’s take on the Michigan lawmaker’s “blood” vow.

“The president believes in debate that’s civil,” said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney during Tuesday’s press briefing. “I haven’t seen those comments and I’m not sure that they mean what some would interpret them to mean. I just haven’t seen them.”

Meanwhile, back in Michigan, a mob of alleged union protesters attacked a tent owned by Americans for Prosperity, a group that supports the right-to-work legislation.

SEE VIDEO AT LINK>
“They had knives,” AFP’s Annie Patnaude told The Washington Examiner. “They cut all of the ties (holding the tent up) and then they started slashing the tent itself … I remember them saying, ‘We’re going to destroy these people.’”
Activists also attacked a conservative commenter. You can see that video and our interview with the person who was punched here.

As TheBlaze reported yesterday, President Obama warned UAW employees on Monday that right-to-work legislation would threaten their ability to make a decent wage.

“What we shouldn’t be doing is trying to take away your rights to bargain for better wages,” the president told an enthralled audience in Redford, Mich. “These so-called right-to-work laws, they don’t have anything to do with economics, they have to do with politics.”

“What they’re really talking about is to give you the right to work for less money,” he added.However, as we also mentioned yesterday on TheBlaze, right-to-work laws have nothing to do with so-called “collective bargaining rights.” It is unclear why President Obama would suggest that right-to-work laws infringe on a union’s ability to engage in collective bargaining

.http://www.theblaze.com/stories/white-house-responds-to-mich-reps-vow-that-there-will-be-blood-were-not-sure-that-means-what-you-think-it-means/

WHITE HOUSE RESPONDS TO MICH. REP’S VOW THAT ‘THERE WILL BE BLOOD’: WE’RE NOT SURE THAT MEANS WHAT YOU THINK IT MEANS

He said what he meant ... it can't get any clearer than that message "A Threat"