One week ago, the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) dealt a big blow to the Graduate Employees Organization (GEO) at the University of Michigan. MERC voted 3-0 to reject the union’s petition to unionize graduate student research assistants (GSRAs), a move that would have doubled the GEO membership at the university and would have raised an estimated $1 million in dues. The GEO currently includes two other categories of graduate students: teaching assistants and graduate student staff assistants.

As a public employee union, the GEO needs MERC approval to hold an election on unionization. But in response to a request for this permission, MERC upheld its own 1981 ruling in a case involving the exact same unionization attempt, ruling that these student assistants are not public employees and therefore out of the agency’s jurisdiction.

The decision followed a Mackinac Center Legal Foundation challenge to a GEO petition asking MERC to certify the unionization election.

The GEO lamented this decision on its website, but insisted the fight’s not over. In fact, the GEO stated that MERC, the very agency that rejected their petition, will still help the union in its unionization efforts:

“MERC’s decision does not prevent GSRAs from participating in an election. To the contrary, MERC recommended that GEO and the University move forward with the election. In addition, MERC offered to conduct the election.”

Other media reports also indicate MERC’s decision has clearly not derailed the GEO’s desire to bring more students into its public employee union. GEO President Samantha Montgomery told Ann Arbor.com on Aug. 8: “This is not the end,” and, “we’re hoping to continue to keep working with the university to reach a finalized decision.”

Montgomery, however, also acknowledges the main problem with her group’s efforts: MERC’s 1981 declaration that the GSRA’s are not public employees. She was cited in AnnArbor.com as saying that the GEO was “still figuring out how graduate student research assistants would be worked into the union… given the (MERC’s) ruling that they are not public employees and cannot unionize.”

Patrick Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation says the GEO can move ahead with an election. However, any resulting unionization would be non-binding. Therefore, he says the motives behind MERC’s cooperation to help the GEO’s seemingly stubborn drive to push non-public employees into its union are suspect: “Why is MERC helping with a non-binding election?”

The university is also apparently working with the GEO to eventually hold an election. The GEO’s website says the following: “GEO plans to work with the University of Michigan to set the details of the election.”

Wright says any election that happens should raise red flags about cost, if nothing else.

“If the union’s not paying for it,” said Wright, “then the question becomes, ‘Why would we be spending government money on a non-binding election in the first place?’ I don’t think the university or MERC should help. It’s showing favoritism for no reason.”

That favoritism, Wright says, could pave the way to more serious political consequences.

“The union activists will stay active,” he said, “and this could turn the election process into a political statement that many graduate students want no part of and thus low voter turnout among many graduate students who want no part of a union.”

Wright said a lopsided election could result and what’s alarming is that the GEO could use these results as grounds to appeal the MERC decision.

“This would allow the GEO to gain the monopoly bargaining power the union has been seeking all along.”

While the City of Ann Arbor has laid off police officers and eliminated positions from the fire department this year, it is sitting on $1.5 million that it has set aside for public art. The city has raised $2.7 million for public art since 2009, but has only spent $1.1 million on two art projects, according to a city official and public documents received in a Freedom of Information Act request.

The city set up its “public arts” fund in 2007, with the City Council agreeing to take 1 percent of the money that went into capital improvement projects that were $100,000 or larger and set it aside for art. Most capital projects involve streets, sewers and water.

Aaron Seagraves, the city’s public art administrator, said there are several projects planned. For example, the city wants to put $150,000 of art in its Ann Arbor Justice Center police and courts building.

“Art is in the eye of the beholder, but crime statistics are not,” said Michael LaFaive, director of the Mackinac Center's Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative.

LaFaive said the residents would be better served if money for sewers were actually spent on sewer construction and not diverted for public art, and that it would be better to have “people donate money to arts instead of having it extracted from them.”

Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje didn’t return an email seeking comment. But AnnArbor.com reported that the mayor wants to do more with public art.

Ed Jacques, spokesman for the Police Officers Association of Michigan, said he was reluctant to say much on the topic because the city is negotiating a contract with Ann Arbor’s police union.

“The most important service that a community or municipality can provide is security and safety for its residents,” Jacques said. “That has to be the No. 1 issue.”

According to AnnArbor.com, the city eliminated 20 positions in the police and fire departments for the 2011-12 fiscal year. Seven police department employees were laid off.