In a letter sent to any member who opts to drop out of his union via Michigan's right-to-work law, Teamsters Local 214 President Joseph Valenti claims that employers are faking claims of deficits so they don’t have to negotiate in good faith.
The letter states: “Right to Work laws are eliminating your right to be represented; these laws are attacking your pension benefits, your healthcare benefits, and employers are falsifying their claims of financial deficits in order to avoid bargaining in good faith. Employer budgets are prepared by the employer and they do not accurately reflect the true financial conditions that exist.”
Valenti goes on to say the union demands independent audits of employers’ budgets during negotiations.
Valenti did not return a request for comment about which employers were falsifying their budgets.
Matt Bach, director of media relations at the Michigan Municipal League, said his organization couldn’t prove or disprove Valenti’s claim because it doesn’t track that information.
“That being said, the League firmly believes that all League member communities follow generally accepted accounting principles and would never misrepresent the financial circumstances,” he said. “It is fact that the state of Michigan since 2003 has diverted from Michigan communities $6.2 billion in statutory revenue sharing to fill its own budget shortfalls. This revenue sharing diversion, coupled with declining property taxes and other financial constraints, have left a record number of Michigan communities facing financial emergencies.”
Cities do receive more money than just statutory revenue sharing and property tax collection has gone up.
F. Vincent Vernuccio, director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, disputed Valenti’s assertions about right-to-work eliminating workers’ rights to be represented.
“Mr. Valenti’s nose must be growing,” Vernuccio said. “All right-to-work does is take away his ability to get workers fired for not paying him. It does not affect representation in any other way. Bargaining for pension and health care benefits as well as everything else is the same with or without right-to-work. The only thing that cannot be verified incorrect is the Teamsters’ president’s claim that employers are falsifying financial claims. However, given the amount of false assertions he was able to shoehorn into one sentence, that also seems unlikely. Of course, if Mr. Valenti can verify this claim, he should do so.”
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.
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Everyone Should Have an Opportunity to Prosper
Regulations often hinder people from work
The Wall Street Journal has a good "Weekend Interview" piece with Bob Woodson, head of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise. The group works in low-income areas to foster entrepreneurship, value creation and faith-based enterprises.
The whole interview is interesting, but one part in particular relating to government mandates for occupational licensing stuck out:
Mr. Woodson says that many poor communities don't need another government program so much as relief from current policies. 'For instance, a lot of people coming out of prison have a hard time obtaining occupational licenses,' he says. Aspiring barbers, cabdrivers, tree trimmers, locksmiths and the like, he notes, can face burdensome licensing requirements. Proponents of these rules like to cite public safety concerns, but the reality is that licensure requirements exist mainly to shut out competition. In many black communities, that translates into fewer jobs and less access to quality goods and services.
Often, the most important thing the government can do is simply not hinder people. Occupational licensing — mandating fees, classes, training and more for someone to get or hold a job — mostly serves to protect some people and businesses from competition and has no proven safety benefits.
In Michigan, the state heaps particularly burdensome mandates onto barbers, security guards, trainers, cosmetologists, painters and an assortment of low-level contractors.
To enhance competition and help consumers, this needs to end. House Bill 4641 would be the best antidote, because it gets to the root of the problem — prohibiting government units "from imposing occupational licensure without proof of valid public health and safety concerns, and when licensing is beneficial, requires the least restrictive method of obtaining it. It also allows workers to sue the state if a regulation excessively burdens their right to earn a living; if a court agreed, the mandate would be thrown out."
If politicians want to truly help the little guy, more needs to be done to eliminate needless regulations.
As Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, has said: "As a pro-poor rule of thumb, I suggest this: If you want to start a landscaping business, all you should need is a lawn mower, not an accountant and a lawyer to help you hack through all the red tape before setting up shop."
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.
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