Tagged: Michigan right to work law

LANSING, MI - Back in late January, Gov. Rick Snyder asked the Michigan Supreme Court to weigh in on the constitutionality of the state's right-to-work law. The high court hasn't yet issued an advisory opinion or said if it will do so. Snyder's request remains pending.

LANSING - Controversial language that would have punished public school districts, universities, community colleges and local units of government that approved union contracts before the right-to-work law went into effect was dropped by the state House of Representatives as it began debating the budgets for schools and the rest of government Tuesday.

LANSING -- Penalties for school districts, universities, community colleges and communities that approved union contracts before right-to-work laws went into effect were left in one version of education budget bills but out of all the Senate versions of the bill. The House Appropriations Committee approved an omnibus education bill that included the language that penalizes districts that approved contracts.

The Wayne State University Board of Governors didn't blink Wednesday in the face of threats from the Legislature to slash the school's state funding, as it passed an eight-year labor contract with its faculty on a straight party-line vote.

More than $27 million and possibly several hundred jobs and higher tuition costs could hang on a vote this afternoon by the Wayne State University Board of Governors. If the Democrat-controlled board approves an eight-year labor contract it negotiated with the faculty union, it will set up a showdown with the Republican-controlled Legislature over the state's new right-to-work law.