Who's in charge here, the people or the unions?

August 23, 2021

The editorial in last Wednesday's City Pulse talks about the report released by Mayor Schor's Racial Justice and Equity Alliance. Among the proposals for reforming the Lansing Police Department's use of force policies is

the creation of a citizen oversight commission with the authority to discipline officers who violate departmental policy. Granting the commission such authority requires a City Charter amendment and the consent of the police union through the collective bargaining process. Sadly, the odds that the union will agree are less than zero, so this idea is unlikely to move forward despite its considerable merit.

What? Is this not a democracy? You are saying that a City Charter amendment that has been approved by a majority of Lansing voters is not enough to create a citizen oversight commission? The people of Lansing can be overruled by the police union????

Not that Andy Schor would put much of a fight. Four of the top 5 contributors to his campaign so far this year are union PACs:

Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 333 PAC	11,000
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers PAC	10,000
Michigan Laborers Political League PAC	10,000
Christman Company employees	6,540
Michigan Regional Council of Carpenters PAC	5,000

The Democratic Party is guilty of weakening democracy in Michigan by passing the Public Employment Relations Act (PERA) in 1965. Until then, there was no collective bargaining for local governments. Wages and work requirements for public employees were controlled by our elected leaders. Unions had no say in the matter.

PERA is a state statute that can be repealed by the Legislature, but it would cause such an outcry you'd think Christmas was being cancelled. Remember the hoards that occupied the Capitol chanting "This is what democracy looks like" when right-to-work was being passed? (Click photo for video.)

By the way, a chanting mob is not what democracy looks like. Democracy is our elected representatives proposing a bill and passing it by majority vote.

Collective bargaining is as sacred to the Democratic Party as right-to-life is to the Republicans. It might have something to do with that PAC money.

As long as the will of the people doesn't conflict with the demands of the unions, Democrats are very much in favor of democracy. That's not true of Republicans. They don't believe in majority rule, and for good reason: they are in the minority (in Michigan, anyway). While Democrats would like to make voting convenient for everyone, Republicans are putting up obstacles, and they appear to be aimed at populations that tend to vote Democrat: Blacks and other minorities. They include:

locking drop boxes for absentee ballots a day before the polls close
requiring the Secretary of State and county Board of Canvassers to approve any drop boxes, which could allow partisans to block them at the local level
prohibiting clerks from providing prepaid postage on ballot return envelopes
prohibiting election officials from using private grants to purchase new voting equipment or improve administration
requiring a voter requesting an absentee ballot to provide a driver’s license number, state ID number, the last four digits of their Social Security number or a photocopy of their ID
eliminating the option for voters who do not have a photo ID with them on election day to sign an affidavit affirming their identity before casting a ballot. Instead, the voter would receive a notice informing them that their ballot will only count if the voter verifies his or her eligibility with the local clerk within six days of the election

Other measures seem designed to increase election costs, which disproportionately affect poorer precincts:

requiring drop boxes to be monitored at all times by high-definition video cameras
prohibiting election officials from using private grants to purchase new voting equipment or improve administration
prohibiting the processing of absentee ballots from beginning more than one day before election day

While a months-long investigation by a Republican-led state Senate committee found no evidence that would cause citizens to doubt the integrity of the 2020 election (report here), it is important that all reasonable measures be taken to ensure the security of our elections. However, a similar effort should made to make sure that everyone who wants to vote has the opportunity to do so with as little effort as possible. Voting should be both secure and easy. This is what the Democrats are fighting for. Now, if they would also make an effort to prevent the will of the people from thwarted in collective bargaining sessions, we might be convinced that they really do support democracy.

Send comments, questions, and tips to stevenrharry@gmail.com or call or text me at 517-730-2638. If you'd like to be notified by email when I post a new story, let me know.

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