PETITION CLOSED

  • The time period for signing this petition has ended.
Save Michigan's Union Rights!
  1. Signatures
    934 out of 1,000
    Petitioning
    1. The Governor of MI (+ 8 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • The Governor of MI
      • The MI State Senate
      • The MI State House
      • State Sen. Randy Richardville (MI-017)
      • State Rep. John Walsh (MI-019)
      • State Rep. Kate Segal (MI-062)
      • State Rep. James Bolger (MI-063)
      • State Rep. Jim Stamas (MI-098)
      • Gov. Rick Snyder (MI)
  2. Created By
    Channing Robinson
    Ann Arbor, MI
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates

Governor Snyder is in the process of passing a bill that will allow a governor-appointed emergency-manager to modify or end collective bargaining agreements. The emergency-manager would also be able to dissolve a city government or recommend consolidation. 

This is similar to the on-going controversy in Wisconsin by Governor Walker. Both bills, in each state, have been protested by hundreds of people. These bills would end union rights in negotiating fair pay, benefits, and working conditions. Measures like these affect a huge scope of people comprising Michigan's middle-class. Teachers, industrial workers, police officers, firemen, clerical workers and numerous other groups will be directly affected by the modification or loss of bargaining agreements. 

Article 1, Section 10 of United Sates Constitution prohibits any state from impairing a contract, which is what this bill is doing. As the Supreme Court has held in Home Building & Loan Association v. Blaisdell (1934), the sanctity of contracts cannot be impaired by a state law "which renders them invalid, or releases or extinguishes them ... Not only are existing laws read into contracts in order to fix obligations as between the parties, but the reservation of essential attributes of sovereign power is also read into contracts as a postulate of the legal order."

Write to your representative today and tell them that the governor cannot decide to find union contracts null and void. The government is accountable to the people, let's keep it that way.

Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures

Save Michigan's Union Rights!

Greetings,

I'm writing to advocate for Michigan's right to collective bargaining agreements, which have been placed on shaky ground in a recent bill that Governor Snyder is supporting .

Governor Snyder is in the process of passing a bill that will allow a governor-appointed emergency-manager to modify or end collective bargaining agreements. The emergency-manager would also be able to dissolve a city government or recommend consolidation.

This bill would end union rights in negotiating fair pay, benefits, and working conditions. Measures like these affect a huge scope of people comprising Michigan's middle-class. Teachers, industrial workers, police officers, firemen, clerical workers and numerous other groups and their families will be directly affected by the modification or loss of bargaining agreements.

Article 1, Section 10 of United Sates Constitution prohibits any state from impairing a contract, which is what this bill is doing. As the Supreme Court has held in Home Building & Loan Association v. Blaisdell (1934), the sanctity of contracts cannot be impaired by a state law "which renders them invalid, or releases or extinguishes them ... Not only are existing laws read into contracts in order to fix obligations as between the parties, but the reservation of essential attributes of sovereign power is also read into contracts as a postulate of the legal order."

Again, I urge you to oppose this bill for the greater good of Michigan's working-class.

[Your name]

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