A recent legal dispute over parking spaces between the Michigan Nurses Association and a University of Michigan hospital is only the latest in a series of unusual conflicts in Michigan created by special demands from organized labor.

Labor unions typically bargain on behalf of employees over paid time off, worker pay and workplace conditions. But unions and employers also fight over unconventional issues such as the price of vending machine food and how many criminal offenses a teacher may have and stay on the job.

Nurses prevailed last month in a struggle over parking lot protocols. The University of Michigan altered employee parking arrangements to create more spaces for patients. The Michigan Nurses Association in 2019 demanded that the university make more parking spaces available for nurses and requested to bargain over the issue.

The hospital refused, and the union filed a complaint with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission. The commission ruled in favor of the nurses, and on Dec. 9, 2024, the Michigan Court of Appeals concurred.

The parking space case is one of many disputes that have arisen over bargaining issues whose connection to workers’ rights and wages is not immediately clear.

In 1979, the UAW filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board after Ford Motor Co. announced an increase in vending machine prices. The union requested to bargain over prices, and the company refused.

The federal board sided with the union. Ford disputed that decision in court. After the company exhausted its appeals, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. The high court ruled in favor of the National Labor Relations Board, and Ford was forced to bargain with the union over vending machine prices.

“It isn’t clear to me why the union doesn’t just go for the highest wages and benefits possible,” said Christopher Douglas, associate professor of economics at the University of Michigan-Flint and member of the Mackinac Center Board of Scholars.

Expensive vending machine food could offset some of a pay increase, Douglas noted. But wage gains apply to all workers, while a discount on vending machine food effectively means those who eat vending machine food get subsidized by those who do not. A similar dynamic applies to bargaining over parking spaces. If people who work at the hospital walk or take public transportation, they get no benefit from discounted parking.

Another unique bargaining tactic played out in a school about 100 miles north of Ann Arbor.

The Bay City Public Schools contract allows school employees who sell drugs the opportunity to keep his or her job thanks to a union provision in the district’s collective bargaining agreement.

The contract calls for disciplinary actions for people who are “involved in the unlawful sale, manufacture, or distribution or dispensation of tobacco, alcohol, or illegal drugs.”

The first offense is referred to as “activity.” If a union employee engages in an activity that state law classifies as a misdemeanor, the first offense will result in a three-day suspension and mandatory counseling. The Bay City contract expires in 2025. Michigan Capitol Confidential reported on the issue April 2024.

“These terms show just how out of hand collective bargaining in Michigan has become,” said Steve Delie, labor policy director at Mackinac Center Legal Foundation.

Instead of focusing on improving educational outcomes for Michigan’s children, Delie said, unions have negotiated for collective bargaining provisions that are irrelevant. He added the state Legislature should take a close look at these terms and consider whether they are the types of subjects that schools should be forced to negotiate.

Editor’s note: Shortly after this story went live, the Michigan House voted in favor of House bills 4001 and 4002. They must still be approved by the Senate and governor if they are to become law.

Legislation before the Michigan House will fix imminent harmful change to the state’s paid sick leave and tipped wage law, supporters say, and lawmakers of both parties claim they have a solution to changes that could devastate restaurants, stores, nonprofits and others.

The Republican-controlled House could vote on House bills 4001 and 4002 as early as today.

Voter-initiated laws passed in 2018 force all businesses to provide paid sick leave and a higher minimum wage starting Feb. 21, though current legislative activities could modify those requirements.

Proposals to modify the impending changes are bipartisan, with Democrats offering Senate Bill 8 and Senate Bill 15 in the upper chamber, which they control.

Rep. Jamie Thompson, R-Brownstown, posted a side-by-side bill comparison on social media Jan. 12.

“Tip workers and restaurants testified today in committee that keeping (the law) as is, is crucial to the worker and the business,” Thompson told Michigan Capitol Confidential in a Jan. 14 email.

The looming laws don’t provide business owners flexibility, Thompson said.

A new law will require employers to give paid sick leave to all employees, CapCon has reported. Only state agencies are exempt.

House Bill 4002, introduced by Rep. Jay DeBoyer, allow employers to discipline employees for missing three or more consecutive workdays without notice. It also defines paid leave to include vacation, personal days, sick leave or paid time off.

HB 4002 exempts from sick leave law seasonal employees who work 25 weeks or fewer per year and part-time employees who work 25 hours or fewer per week. State employees, and certain employees of airlines or railroad companies

House Bill 4002 exempts small businesses and employers with fewer than 50 employees. It does not redefine what constitutes a small business.

The Senate version of the sick-leave bill, SB 15, redefines a small business to include employers with fewer than 25 employees. Current law defines a threshold of fewer than 10 employees.

House Bill 4001 and Senate Bill 8 both increase the minimum wage, though the House uses a slower schedule.

House Bill 4001 would use this schedule:

• Jan. 21, 2025: $12.00
• Jan. 1, 2026: $12.50
• Jan. 1, 2027: $13.00.
• Jan. 1, 2028: $14.00.
• Jan. 1, 2029: $15.00.

Senate Bill 8 would increase the minimum wage on this schedule:

• Jan. 21, 2025: $12.48
• Jan. 1, 2026: $13.73
• Jan. 1, 2027: $15.00.

Both House and Senate bills call for automatically increasing the minimum wage. The Senate version’s automatic adjustment take effect earlier (2028) than the House’s (2030).

The two bills differ in the mechanism for calculating inflation adjustments. The Senate bill calls for using the consumer price index for urban wage earners while the House bill uses a measure of inflation for the Midwest, which generally reflects the region’s lower cost of living.