LANSING, Mich. (WJBK) -
Choice is a wonderful
thing. It permeates virtually every
aspect our lives. We choose whom we
love; what career to pursue; and where to live, etc.
Choice is also deeply
woven into our Democracy. We pick our
leaders and unpick them. We can
participate in protests or choose to sit on the sidelines and let the other guy
correct any social injustices.
In recent days Republicans in this state have been on
a choice kick. In the political biz words mean a lot which is why after
Gov. Rick Snyder quietly signed the Right to Work legislation, while angry
demonstrators hollered beneath his window, he emerged to tell the media he had
signed the Freedom to Work Act.
Even the former accountant, where numbers are more important than words,
figured out Right to Work was incendiary. Finding kinder and less
explosive terms was sought and found: Freedom and
choice.
The R's contend what's
so bad about giving workers a choice:
Pay union dues or don't. Sounds
down right un-American to force any employee to pay anything he or she does not
want to pay.
Hence wherever the
governor travels these days if the ugly
RTW thing comes up, he quickly segues into this freedom to choose stuff and
unless a UAW members is standing in front of him, the typical citizens shrugs
his or her shoulders and goes,"Well that sounds pretty reasonable."
But apparently the GOP
"choice" mantra is not an absolute and the really neat thing about it, the
governor's detractors like to point out, is that he and the R's get to pick
when to apply it.
Choice for women on
abortion is a prime example.
Many R's believe that is
wrong.
But that's hardly a new
story as the selective choice thing on abortion has been on going for years.
However here's one angle that's new.
Labor is choosing to
renegotiate it's current contracts
hoping to extend them for years in order to avoid the RTW law which takes
effect at the end of March.
"We're doing that right
now," confides a private sector labor leader.
The thinking is, eventually RTW will be tossed out or if the Democrats
take back the reigns of government, it could be repealed. So if labor can just hang on long enough, it
can effectively mute the impact of the law.
Now all of a sudden the
pro-choice Republicans are not so much.
"Anyone trying to
artificially extend a contract right now is simply playing politics and clearly
trying to circumvent a state law," protests the mouthpiece for the House GOP
leader Rep. Jase Bolger, who himself was accused of playing politics by passing
the thing in the first place.
Hold the phone.
Artificially?
The labor unions at Wayne State University
that are doing this would contend, they have that right to choose to re-open
the contract. It's not an artificial
right, it's real. And conversely the WSU
governing board, which was chosen by Michigan voters, can choose to
participate or not and since the Democrat control the board, guess what?
They are talking to the unions.
Oh my. The Republicans
don't like that brand of choice. In fact
the West Michigan Republican who controls the purse strings for higher ed is
not amused.
"We are monitoring
this situation closely," warns Rep. Al Pscholka. We ‘hope the governing bodies respect the law
and labor freedom." The implied threat,
of course, is the R's could take some money away from WSU or any other schools
that join in this monkey business.
Ah yes.
Choice is a beautiful thing... except when it doesn't serve your political
agenda Mr. Pscholka's critics would argue.
