IMPORTANT NOTICE ABOUT KEEPING OUR UNION STRONG! Members of our union will soon be getting a letter in the mail encouraging you to contribute to our Political Action Committee, also known as PAC. The PAC is critical to the future of our union, our pensions and our way of life –and we need to keep it strong! Our PAC is one of our best, most effective weapons for standing up for the issues that directly affect our jobs, paychecks and safety. Our pensions, wages, benefits, training, health care, safety, working conditions – all these are closely tied to our ability to advocate to policymakers, and the PAC is what helps us do this. When you get the letter about our PAC, please take a moment to read it, sign the card and send it back to us. Remember: Signing the PAC card won’t cost you or our union anything. The money comes from a 20-cent an hour assessment from the contractor. If you do NOT sign the card, that free money will go into a promotional fund, instead of our PAC fund. Under state law, we need your written consent to spend contributions on political activities, and that’s why we’re asking you to sign the card. So, please, sign the card, send it back and help us keep our brotherhood and sisterhood strong. Thank you. Right to Work Michigan’s controversial right-to-work law lets a worker enjoy all the benefits of wage increases and other benefits union members negotiate through collective bargaining – without having to pay dues and join the union. Right to work is an attempt by extreme politicians and corporate special interests to persuade people to leave unions so unions will crumble and fall apart. Weakened unions will struggle to bargain for anyone and all of us will be left with lower wages and benefits. Right to work offers NO protection and NO economic benefits, despite the claims of politicians and their corporate cronies. Here are some facts:
People who support right to work FALSELY claim it protects workers who don’t want to join a union or disagree with a union’s politics. The FACT is federal law already protects workers who don’t want to join a union or make political contributions. |
Prevailing Wage Efforts to repeal prevailing wage laws are wrongheaded and reckless — to workers, to Michigan businesses that play by the rules, and to taxpayers. Construction industry prevailing wage laws are a check against a dangerous tendency in the construction industry: Cutting corners, low bids and other unscrupulous practices that degenerate into destructive wage and price competition. These practices can drive skilled and experienced workers from the industry. They also reduce productivity and quality. Reduced to poverty-level jobs, workers with less money will struggle to care for their families and contribute to the local economy. Prevailing wage laws:
The construction customer and taxpayers as a whole do not save any money when prevailing wage laws are repealed, according to a 2011 report by Keystone Research Center. When Michigan suspended its prevailing wage laws in the 1990s, schools construction costs showed no difference before or after. Data from the Federal Highway Administration shows states that pay higher wages saw lower overall costs than states that pay low wages. Labor hours to complete a mile of highway are 32 percent lower in high wage states despite a 69-percent higher wage rate, and states that paid higher wages saw savings of more than $30,000 per mile to taxpayers, according to the Construction Labor Research Council. |
MISCLASSIFICATION Misclassification occurs when an employer treats an employee as an independent contractor in order to avoid paying social security taxes, workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, liability insurance and overtime pay. |