After  a bruising defeat during the Wisconsin Recall Election and seeing  numbers falling throughout the US of A, unions are banking on a ballot  initiative in Michigan to shore up survival and block more defeats. The  initiative would add an amendment to the state constitution to codify  the right to unionize workers in the state.

After  suffering a string of political setbacks in the U.S. industrial  heartland, organized labor hopes Michigan voters will help turn the tide  in a November election by supporting a state constitutional amendment  for the right to unionize.

The union-backed ballot proposal would  make collective bargaining a constitutionally protected right and  cripple efforts to pass so-called "right to work" legislation in the  state. Critics say the measure, which would cover private as well as  public employees, would be a "death warrant" for Michigan's economy  because it would discourage businesses from bringing new jobs to  Michigan and encourage some already in the state to leave.

Experts  say the union push, which included a door-to-door weekend canvassing  effort by delegates attending the Detroit convention of the American  Federation of Teachers, is likely to increase voter turnout in the fall  presidential election in a state that is too close to call.

"It's  a critical time and a critical issue," said Marva Boatman, an AFT  conference delegate who is a special education teacher from Washington,  D.C., as she rang doorbells and knocked on doors outside Detroit on  Saturday, asking voters to support the amendment.

Only a handful  of states, including Florida and Missouri, have made unionizing an  activity protected by the state constitution, according to F. Vincent  Vernuccio, director of labor policy at The Mackinac Center for Public  Policy, a free-market think tank focused on Michigan.

But the  Mackinac Center and other critics, including the Michigan Chamber of  Commerce, say the amendment - which supporters call the "Protect Our  Jobs Act" - would be a more sweeping measure.

They claim it would  allow public-sector unions to use contract negotiations to override  acts of the legislature, such as laws limiting how much taxpayers pay  for government employee healthcare.

"It is extremely radical and would fundamentally change the power structure in Michigan," Vernuccio said.

Greg  Mourad, vice president of the National Right to Work Committee, said if  voters approve the measure they will be "signing their own economic  death warrant.

"It would make it significantly harder for Michigan to create and attract jobs," Mourad said.

Michigan  has been hard hit by the decades-long struggle of the Detroit-based  automakers and the continuing restructuring of the domestic car  business. One measure of just how much that restructuring has realigned  politics in the state can be seen in the fact that Romney, who has  criticized the 2009 auto bailout backed by the once-dominant United Auto  Workers union, is running so close with Obama.

In addition to  the constitutional amendment, unions also are asking Michigan voters to  repeal a law giving state-appointed emergency managers wide powers to  cut spending in municipalities and school districts deemed to be  experiencing a "financial emergency."

That law has been used to  take over more than half a dozen financially ailing cities and school  systems in the state in recent years and to void union contracts.

http://reuters.com/article/2012/07/29/us-usa-politics-michigan-idUSBRE86S0ON20120729

From  the Cornfield, I do believe in the right to form unions. However, I  also believe that in the last 30-40 years, a majority of unions have  lost their way and are more focused on political activity and less on  workers and on the economic hardship that has resulted in some  situations.