Right to collective bargaining helped build the nation’s great middle class
By James P. Hoffa, General President
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
The Greatest Generation won two World Wars, put a man on the moon, built the interstate highway system, and created the most dynamic economy on earth.
Between 1946 and 1973, the U.S. economy was a powerhouse. The middle class grew strong and millions of Americans rose out of poverty. The words “Made in America” meant something — something the world envied.
The Greatest Generation recognized that if people have a right to capitalize their ideas and their country’s resources, then people also have the right to capitalize their labor. When the Greatest Generation ran the country, workers bargained collectively for a fair share of the prosperity they created.
Those important rights should be protected as part of the state constitution. I urge you to support the Protect Working Families initiative on the ballot in November.
Collective bargaining built America’s great middle class after World War II. It created a virtuous loop that strengthened the American economy. Workers who bargained for better wages and benefits were able to buy their own homes and fill them with refrigerators and toys and new clothes — and put a car or two in the garage. Their spending fueled even more manufacturing and even more jobs.
Henry Ford understood the concept of an economy driven by consumer demand. In 1914, he famously raised his workers’ wages to $5 a day so they could buy the cars they were making.
Los Angeles and Detroit had the highest percentage of homeowners after World War II for one reason: Collective bargaining rights were protected for workers in the automotive and aerospace industries.
Collective bargaining also allowed employers and employees to negotiate their differences productively, to work together to solve problems, to find efficiencies and to build better products.
Those rights have been weakened by job-killing trade deals that let employers pit American workers against low-paid, unskilled foreign workers. Globalization is severely weakening collective bargaining rights. “Made in America” now means that a U.S. manufacturer managed to survive despite the onslaught of cheaper goods from China or Mexico.
Collective bargaining rights are under attack, threatening our middle class. It’s no coincidence that the middle class is shrinking as collective bargaining rights are being taken away.
We’re all painfully familiar with the difficulty of surviving in this economy, but here are some statistics that should scare you: The U.S. Census Bureau says the middle class makes up 51 percent of adults, down 16 percent from 1971. In the past decade, the median income for the middle class fell to $69,847 from $72,956, and median wealth fell 28 percent.
It’s time to rebuild our middle class by going back to the values of the Greatest Generation. It’s time to protect collective bargaining rights the way we did in the ‘40s, ‘50, ‘60s and early ‘70s.
We’ve already seen what collective bargaining did to help save the auto industry. Auto management and auto workers negotiated to make historic changes in production, pay and benefits. Since then, productivity has increased, government loans have been repaid and sales have soared. That couldn’t have happened without collective bargaining.
Voting “Yes” on Proposal 2 to protect collective bargaining rights should be a no-brainer for Michigan voters — because it’s good for all of us.
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James P. Hoffa is an attorney and labor leader and the general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Hoffa was first elected during December 1998
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Government employee union bosses want to turn back clock
By Richard K. Studley
Michigan Chamber of Commerce
It is time to stand up to the government employee union bosses who are trying to hijack Michigan’s constitution.
Michigan families and job providers have been hard at work across the state, fighting every day to turn our local economy around, put food on the table and put this state back to work. After a decade-long recession and year after year carrying the highest unemployment rate in the country, Michigan is finally showing real signs of improvement.
Michigan has led the Midwest in both total job growth and total manufacturing job growth in the last year. Our unemployment rate recently reached its lowest point in four years, employers are adding jobs across the state and there is a sense of optimism that Michigan is finally in position for a real economic comeback.
Sadly, government employee union bosses want to turn back the clock by pushing for passage of Proposal 2, a deceptive ballot measure that would unravel all economic progress by hijacking Michigan’s constitution, for their own selfish benefit.
Let’s be clear — Proposal 2 is not about collective bargaining. Collective bargaining is already provided under state law and protected by federal law.
Proposal 2 is really about creating new, constitutionally-protected sweetheart deals and giveaways for government employee unions. And it won’t come cheap. According to a recent study by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy that examined the costs Proposal 2 would impose on Michigan’s hard-working families and job providers, $1.6 billion in taxpayer savings per year could be lost through a potentially endless parade of lawsuits.
For instance, this over-reaching constitutional power grab would reverse $1 billion a year in savings generated by common sense reforms that protect taxpayers from paying huge government employee health insurance premiums that are far out of line with what families competing in the private sector pay.
Proposal 2’s own supporters admit their scheme would also eliminate government employee pension reforms, adding another $312 million burden to Michigan taxpayers each year. And Prop 2 would overturn $300 million in savings achieved through reforms that allow public school districts to hire local Michigan job providers to provide cost-effective support services.
What’s more, under Prop 2, the state would be forbidden from ever again enacting reforms like these that could keep state and local government solvent and jobs growing.
But far more costly than erasing any of the 170 or more unique reforms and laws Proposal 2 would undo is the cost this constitutional hijacking scheme would have on Michigan’s ability to compete in the new 21st century economy. Proposal 2 would send a crystal clear signal to investors, job creators and the rest of the nation that government employee unions will stop at nothing to prevent meaningful economic reform.
Our constitution is the last place we should entrench these kinds of special interest power grabs. Michigan families have worked too hard to reinvent Michigan. Let’s protect Michigan’s future, protect Michigan jobs and protect Michigan’s constitution by voting NO on Proposal 2.
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Rich Studley is President & CEO of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, a statewide business organization representing approximately 6,800 employers, trade associations and local chambers of commerce. The Michigan Chamber represents businesses of every size and type in all 83 counties of the state. Michigan Chamber member businesses provide jobs to 1.5 million residents. One of every 2.6 employees in Michigan works for a Chamber member firm. Rich may be reached at 517-371-2100 or rstudley@michamber.com
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