3/13/13 - A panel discussion put on by local Tea Party group RetakeOur Gov focusing on the stateâs new Right-to-Work laws turned heated more than once last night. More than 100 Livingston residents attended the meeting at Memories Lounge in Brighton. Speakers included representatives from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Union Conservatives, the Michigan chapter of Americans for Prosperity and an economics professor from Hillsdale College. Also among the speakers was Jim Perialas, a teacher and union leader from Roscommon. He tells WHMI that the teachers in his district separated from the Michigan Education Association to form their own union, feeling that the MEA was not responsive to their needs despite increasing fees. The speakers promoted the new legislation, saying Right-to-Work would improve the Michigan economy and prevent workers from being forced to donate money to causes they do not support. However, not everyone agreed. Several of the members of the audience who spoke up at the Q&A portion of the meeting argued against the legislation, which they said is an unnecessary attack on unions and the protection they give workers. Debates between those audience members and the speakers broke out during the later portion of the meeting, with some of the detractors shouting their arguments when the speakers were responding or when they could not get a microphone. Non-speaking attendees included State Representatives Bill Rogers and Cindy Denby as well as local school board members, including Deborah McCormick from the Howell Public Schools and Bill Gatewood from Hartland Consolidated Schools. McCormick said she approved of the development with the Roscommon teachers forming their own union and was supportive of Right-to-Work in general. (TD)
↧