President Barack Obama is right to side with organized labor in Michigan.
Michigan is home of the United Auto Workers, historically one of the most powerful unions in the country. It is also home to a highly partisan Republican-controlled legislature, which rammed through an anti-labor bill in early December, which Republican Gov. Rick Snyder now says he will sign.
Snyder previously was noncommittal on the so-called right-to-work bill, acknowledging that it was "divisive." It strikes at the heart of unions' ability to function effectively.
"What they're talking about is giving you the right to make less money," Obama told union members in Michigan. "What we shouldn't be doing is try to take away your rights to bargain for better wages or working conditions."
The accomplishments and the importance of organized labor historically for all workers can't be disputed. Organized labor has resulted in better pay, better working conditions and better benefits not just for unionized workers, but for all employees in this country. The labor movement brought you the weekend, the eight-hour day and the minimum wage. And by boosting wages, it increased consumption for the entire economy.
Union membership peaked at 36 percent during the 1950s. Today, it is less than 12 percent. It has fallen because corporate executives have done everything in their power to crush unions, including illegal firings of organizers.
It has also declined because Republican officeholders, at the state and federal level, have put up one obstacle after another to unionizing. And when President Ronald Reagan busted the air traffic controllers union, he sent a clear signal that it was open season on labor.
Fortunately, Obama is now siding with labor. That may not be enough to hold back the anti-labor actions of companies and Republican statehouses, but it is an important signal nonetheless.
We need strong labor unions, and the underhanded move in Michigan, of all places, must not stand.
Brian Gilmore writes for the Progressive Media Project, www.progressive.org.