© 2024 MICHIGAN PUBLIC
91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit 104.1 Grand Rapids 91.3 Port Huron 89.7 Lansing 91.1 Flint
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Stakes are high in Michigan's Proposal 2 campaign

Teachers protest in Lansing on February 26th, 2011. There were more union protests today.
MEA
Teachers protest in Lansing on February 26th, 2011. There were more union protests today.

Michigan's Proposal 2 ballot campaign is being watched across the country. The proposal seeks to enshrine collective bargaining rights for public and private employees into the Michigan Constitution.

Steven Greenhouse wrote about the implications of Michigan's Proposal 2 in a recent New York Times piece.

In it, Michigan Chamber of Commerce president Rich Studley called Proposal 2 a "weapon" that is being tested in Michigan and could be used in other states that allow voter referendums and initiatives.

The ballot campaign represents an attempt by unions and their Democratic allies to slow or stop the wave of Republican-backed measures adopted in Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Tennessee and other states in the last two years to curb collective bargaining and weaken unions, especially those representing government workers. “Besides the presidential race, Proposal 2 is probably going to be the most significant thing on the ballot nationally,” said F. Vincent Vernuccio, director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center, a conservative research center based in Midland, Mich.

Union representatives say collective bargaining rights for public employees are suffering "a death by a thousand cuts" in Michigan, and Proposal 2 is the best way to protect those rights.

Greenhouse writes that $30 million is expected to be spent on the battle over Proposal 2 in Michigan.

To read more about Proposal 2 and all the statewide ballot proposals, you can check out Michigan Radio's Guide to the Ballot Proposals.

Mark Brush was the station's Digital Media Director. He succumbed to a year-long battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, in March 2018. He was 49 years old.
Related Content