Automotive parts manufacturer Android Industries is headquartered in Auburn Hills, MI. But in March, when the company decided to build a new plant, it looked south – to right-to-work Indiana. Android’s Fort Wayne, IN, plant brought 66 jobs and nearly $9 million of investment to the Hoosier State. The company cited …
Right-to-work laws represent “the freedom to freeload,” conservative commentator Steven Crowder was told by a union protester outside the Michigan state capitol shortly before another protester punched him in the face. The gripe is a common one: If workers are free to choose whether or not they wish to join …
This is the week that Michigan’s workers will finally be freed from forced unionization. After decades of United Auto Workers control over the struggling American auto industry, the Michigan legislature’s passing of a right-to-work law is historic. Governor Rick Snyder (R) is expected to sign the law as early as …
Two Michigan school districts will close Tuesday after hosts of teachers called out sick, apparently to join protests against efforts to pass right-to-work legislation in the state. The school district superintendent in Taylor, MI, a Detroit suburb, said the district would not have enough teachers to fill the district’s classrooms, according …
All signs now point toward Michigan becoming America’s 24th right-to-work state by year’s end. This is good news for Michigan’s union members and unemployed. Michigan has suffered more than most states in the recession. The state still has an unemployment rate one-and-a-half percentage points above the national average. The state …
Michigan voters rejected a proposed state constitutional amendment last week that would have imposed a mandate requiring the state’s utilities to source 25 percent of their electric sales annually from renewable energy by 2025. Proposal 3, dubbed “25 by 25,” called for more renewable energy from wind, solar, biomass, and …
A123, recipient of a $249 million Department of Energy manufacturing grant, warned of impending debt default and cash problems that forced the company to seek bankruptcy protection. With 14 straight quarterly losses–nearly $83 million in 2nd Quarter 2012 and $125 million in the previous quarter, on top of $258 million …
Another green-energy-related company built on government subsidies is having trouble keeping its head above water. This time, the scandal surrounds Compact Power, a subsidiary of LG Chem.* In 2010, the Obama Administration proudly gave Compact Power a $150 million grant to build a vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Michigan. These …
Recent negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership have sent representatives of government supported industries, like New Balance shoes, scrambling for political help to maintain their high tariffs. While an economic case can’t be made for keeping these tariffs in place, proponents are touching a much more emotional one: culture. New England …
A teachers’ union contract in Bay City, MI, has become a focal point in the battle over a ballot measure in that state that seeks to provide legal guarantees for union collective bargaining agreements — and invalidate laws that conflict with those agreements. The contract allows teachers to show up …
