Anti-Union Movement Is Bad News for America

Michigan's new anti-union law isn't about economics or creating jobs, much as its GOP supporters would like everyone to believe, writes Harold Meyerson in the Washington Post. No, this is pure politics. How else to explain that police and firefighters, whose contracts cost local governments a pretty penny, are exempt? It's because their unions generally vote Republican, which provides them with an exemption from the right-to-work movement.

"The Republicans who took control of the Michigan statehouse in 2010 understand that Democrats’ foot soldiers come disproportionately from labor," writes Meyerson. "GOP efforts to reduce labor’s clout help Republicans politically far more than they help any Michigan-based businesses or local governments." Unions still matter, he writes. If workers can't bargain collectively, the nation's gap between rich and poor is only going to grow worse. Click for Meyerson's full column. (More labor unions stories.)