Thursday, August 15, 2013

Michigan Appeals Court Says Right-To-Work Law Applies to State Employees

August 15, 2013 at 4:14 pm

Court: Right-to-work applies to state employees

Chad Livengood
Detroit News Lansing Bureau

Lansing— A divided Court of Appeals panel ruled Thursday that Michigan’s right-to-work law does apply to roughly 35,000 unionized state employees.

In a 2-1 decision, the appellate court said the state Legislature had the constitutional authority to set conditions of employment for state workers when it made financial support of a labor union optional.

Michigan became the nation’s 24th right-to-work state in March after the Republican-controlled Legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder passed the legislation over five days in the December lame-duck legislative session.

State government unions challenged the constitutionality of the law, arguing only the Michigan Civil Service Commission could set terms and conditions of employment.

In the majority opinion, Court of Appeals judges Henry William Saad and Pat M. Donofrio ruled the public-sector worker right-to-work law, Public Act 349, was a “proper exercise of the Legislature’s constitutional authority” to set conditions of employment for state workers.

“By enacting PA 349, the Legislature made a choice and thereby spoke for the people of Michigan,” the majority ruled.

Court of Appeals Judge Elizabeth L. Gleicher dissented, arguing the majority was writing “out of the Constitution the regulatory authority” of the Civil Service Commission.

“Thus, the majority’s pronouncement that the Legislature’s authority includes enacting politically-motivated laws contradicting CSC rules cannot be squared with separation-of-powers principles,” Gleicher wrote.

Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette, who defended the law, called the ruling “a great opportunity for the hardworking women and men of Michigan.”

“As the law is written, public-sector employees will receive the same freedoms and choices as private sector employees," Schuette said in a statement. “Everyone will be treated equally.”

Labor union contracts previously included clauses requiring workers who refused to pay union dues to pay an agency fee to the union for negotiating the collective bargaining agreement on their behalf.

Gleicher later added: “In my view, neither the majority nor the Legislature may cast aside the (Civil Service Commission’s) choice based on an alternate political preference.”

In the majority opinion, Saad and Donofrio argued a future Legislature could decide to “change the law or, if dissatisfied, citizens themselves may reject PA 349 through referendum or propose a new law through initiative.”

The Legislature attached appropriations to both the public-sector and private-sector right-to-work laws, which past courts have ruled makes the laws immune to be overturned by a voter-initiated referendum.

Democratic lawmakers have argued the right-to-work law will lead to a system of “freeloaders” in state government and unionized companies where some employees enjoy union-negotiated benefits without helping foot the bill for union representation.

The Legislature exempted the unionized police officers and firefighters from the right-to-work law because those public safety workers have special binding arbitration laws.

During heated debate over the legislation, Republican lawmakers argued police departments and firehouses, where work force unity is necessary because of the dangers of the job, could be divided if some employees paid union dues and other did not.

clivengood@detroitnews.com
(517) 371-3660
Twitter.com/ChadLivengood

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130815/POLITICS02/308150103#ixzz2c5XzNQzT

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