Union members vow to invite mass arrests at an AFL-CIO rally against right-to-work legislation Tuesday outside the state Capitol. About 200 were trained in civil disobedience tactics this weekend in Dearborn.
A simultaneous demonstration on a different side of the building is scheduled by Americans for Prosperity, which favors right-to-work legislation, Paul Egan reports in the Detroit Free Press. The stage is set "for what could be one of the largest demonstrations the state's seat of government has seen in decade," he writes.
In a front-page report Sunday, Free Press columnist Jeff Seidel writes:
There are estimates that as many as 7,000 demonstrators, including hundreds from other states, will descend on the Capitol.
Drills in how to passively resist police orders were held Saturday morning at UAW Local 600 in Dearborn, a Teamsters blog says:
The union hall couldn't hold all the nurses, autoworkers, Teamsters, teachers, members of SEIU, AFSCME, UFCW, ISO and other unions. Their families, retirees and pastors came too. . . . . They were told to de-escalate confrontation, to keep cool heads in the front of the action and put hotheads in the back.
The meeting, attended by UAW President Bob King, lasted more than two hours.
A Facebook event listing for Tuesday's rally, starting at 8 a.m., has more than 26,800 invitees. As of Sunday morning, more than 1,500 said they plan to attend and another 440 clicked "maybe."
Chad Clark of St. Louis, Mich., an organizer for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 876, was interviewed in Lansing by the Free Press.
Clark said he expects a huge union turnout Tuesday, when the Legislature is expected to resume consideration of right-to-work legislation. “I want to see them shut the state down,” he said.
In a separate article, Egan writes:
Unions also are organizing phone banks to bring supporters to the Capitol on Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to stop right-to-work bills that were introduced and partly passed on Thursday.
Right-to-work legislation makes it illegal to require financial support of a union as a condition of employment.
The Workplace Fairness and Equity Act would cover all private and public employees except police and firefighters. Gov. Rick Snyder says he'll sign the bills after final passage, which could come Tuesday. Similar legislation is in effect in 23 other states.
Detroit News coverage describes the high stakes:
The Legislature's votes make Michigan the latest focal point in a national debate over unions -- pitting Republicans against Democrats, workers against employers and business interests against many in the middle class who believe right to work will roll back gains made over decades in wages, benefits and working conditions.
