SAGINAW -- Less than 24 hours after Governor Snyder made Michigan the 24th right-to-work state with the stroke of his pen, union supporters are crying foul.
"Snyder did not listen to our voices in Lansing yesterday when he signed the right to work bill into law,” Saginaw resident Trevor Bellenger said.
Bellenger stood in silent protest with other Saginaw community members – taping their mouths - to symbolize how they felt the public's voice was locked out of the capitol Tuesday. Though not a union member himself, Bellenger says the right-to-work law will hurt all workers.
“Right now the standards set by unions set the standards for everywhere in non-union shops. It makes a competitive workforce and it makes the middle class stronger,” Bellenger said.
As for economic fallout, SVSU political science professor John Kaczynski predicts there won't be much until current union workers begin retiring. But until then, he says, this is prime time for unions to transform and re-brand themselves.
“This will push unions to try to raise the quality of their message to their membership and also be reactive to their membership,” Kaczynski said.
That’s little consolation to those who staged silent protests in Saginaw, Detroit., Kalamazoo and elsewhere across the state.
"We're going to continue to work to organized to be involved with our communities and have conversations with people so that we can make change,” Amy Davis-Comstock said.
