Lansing, Mich.—The United Auto Workers has joined the fight against a plan to prohibit state workers’
unions from bargaining on issues such as scheduling, staff assignments, and seniority. UAW Local 6000, which represents almost 17,000 of Michigan’s 50,000 state workers, said it “is strongly opposed to the rule changes, which will negatively affect our freedom to collectively bargain the terms and conditions of our workplace,” in a letter to members posted on Facebook Aug. 16. “If these rule changes are adopted, every UAW Local 6000 member will be impacted.” State personnel director Jan Winters proposed the changes in an Aug. 9 memo to unions and state managers. She also wants the state Civil Service Commission to have the power to pass rules that affect all employees regardless of what their contract says, although most of her proposals wouldn’t go into effect until 2019, when state workers’ current contracts will expire. Local 6000 urged “each and every one of” its members to attend the commission’s Sept. 20 hearing in Lansing, when it will consider the proposed changes. Read more
