Posts tagged Gretchen Whitmer
Teachers union spends $1M on Michigan governor’s race
November 2, 2022 // Yet the MEA, along with its parent organization, the National Education Association, is heavily funding Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s reelection campaign, as well as some Michigan school board races. The NEA is spending $1 million in Whitmer’s favor. The MEA is also endorsing nearly 200 candidates in local school board races and giving more than $1,000 each to many candidates across the state. This amount goes a long way in local school board elections. The NEA and MEA are supporting candidates who will back the status quo. The Washington Examiner reported April 7 that the NEA spent $66 million on political activities and another $117 million on political contributions, gifts, and grants for the 2020-21 reporting cycle. MEA’s total spending for 2022 is not yet available.
Michigan bill would force prevailing wage on private businesses
October 25, 2022 // News Story Michigan bill would force prevailing wage on private businesses Not even Michigan’s old prevailing wage law, which was repealed in 2018, applied to private business By Jamie A. Hope | October 24, 2022Share on FacebookShare on Twitter State Rep. Rachel Hood, D-Grand Rapids, has pushed for private businesses on to pay the prevailing wage on renewable energy projects. Should State Rep. Rachel Hood, D-Grand Rapids, find herself in a position of power in January, she will likely require private businesses to abide by a prevailing wage policy when awarding a contractor bid for renewable energy projects. House Bill 6099, introduced by Hood on May 11, would require union wages for private renewable energy projects. Not even the prevailing wage law, which was repealed in 2018, required that. Prevailing wage typically refers to the pay and benefits contractors and vendors are required to offer their employees when doing business with a government agency. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer reinstated prevailing wage for those doing business with the state by way of an Oct. 2021 press release. Steve Delie, director of labor policy at Mackinac Center, says Hood’s bill could raise energy costs. “The problem with this bill is the same problem that prevailing wage policies have generally—this will lead to increased costs and decreased competition,” Delie told CapCon. “As we unwisely transition away from reliable energy, this bill would further increase the costs of wind and solar projects, without any accompanying benefit.” Rep. Rachel Hood,
Detroit teachers have an attendance problem
October 19, 2022 // 40% of Detroit teachers were frequently or chronically absent last school year, according to the Detroit Public Schools Community District Detroit’s Superintendents Report from Oct. 11 reveals that teachers in Detroit have absenteeism issues. It placed the share of “Teachers with Excellent or Moderate Attendance” at 60.4% for the 2021-22 academic year. This is down from 83.8% in 2020-21. Pre-pandemic, the teacher rate was at 69.5% in 2018-19 and 82.6% in 2019-20. Last school year, 40% of teachers in Detroit were frequently or chronically absent. Frequently absent means between 11 and 17 days absent, while chronically absent means 18 or more days absent, according to the National Council on Teacher Quality.
Construction trade association sues state over Whitmer’s ‘unilateral’ prevailing wage policy
July 22, 2022 // "The governor has seemingly revived this repealed procedure, but has not done so by either enforcing legislation or through the procedures of the Administrative Procedure Act," wrote ABC of Michigan, represented by the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation. "The policy has been implemented by unilateral edict from the governor's office. This is not a proper method of governance and is not binding on plaintiff." ABC of Michigan, Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline, Jimmy Greene, Gov. Rick Snyder, Department of Technology Management and Budget, Administrative Procedures Act, DTMB,
State of Michigan plays peek-a-boo, redacting publicly available document
July 21, 2022 // The state included in its response a document with several redactions, even though the same document is publicly available without the redactions. “This is yet another example of FOIA being applied improperly and inconsistently. The records produced in response to this request were available online, and in entirely unredacted form," says Steve Delie, director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center. “It is unclear whether these redactions were legally permissible, but it is clear is that public bodies are not applying FOIA in a way that encourages openness and transparency.”
Editorial: Biden’s favors to unions keep costing taxpayers
March 16, 2022 // Pitching the executive order as a cost saver is disingenuous, as collective bargaining inherently drives up costs. It’s the same faulty logic used to defend prevailing wage laws that force union-level pay and benefits on publicly funded construction projects.
Michigan Teachers’ Unions’ Desperate ‘Dark Money’ Fearmongering
February 9, 2022 // The unions and their allies are running out of options to preserve the public-school monopoly and deny the state’s families educational choice.
Labor Unions Received $36.7M in PPP Loan Fraud
February 3, 2022 // Labor unions that were deemed ineligible for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) received $36.7 million in fraudulent loans, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
Labor Unions Collected $37 Million in COVID Relief They Were Ineligible To Receive
February 2, 2022 // The Paycheck Protection Program launched in March 2020 to provide relief to small businesses and charities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But 226 labor unions that were ineligible for the program received $36.7 million in forgivable loans, according to a report provided exclusively to the Washington Free Beacon.