The Pink Slip
GOV. RICK SNYDER
With pepper spray wafting in the Lansing air and angry shouts echoing in the rotunda of Michigan’s Capitol, Gov. Rick Snyder retreated to his private office to sign two bitterly divisive bills Republicans rammed through a lame-duck session of the legislature this week that will weaken unions, both public and private, in a state where labor leaders once stood tall.
The legislation, which lifted language from a model bill prepared by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a right-wing group backed by the billionaire Koch brothers, makes Michigan the 24th state in the nation to have “Right to Work” laws, or as President Obama said recently, “the right to work for less money.”
According to a study by the University of Notre Dame, average wages for workers in Right to Work states are thousands of dollars lower than in states without the laws.
Snyder, a former businessman who rode into office in 2010, had said the bills weren’t high on his agenda because they were “too divisive,” but he changed his tune after the election because in January the Republicans would lose their ability to muscle this repressive stuff through.
Snyder calls himself “one tough nerd,” but we can think of another word that rhymes better, considering what he’s willingly done to the earning power of his state’s hard-working families.
Snyder…you’re fired.
