Conyers: Michigan Bill Attacks the Hard-Earned Contract Rights of Public Workers

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Conyers:  Michigan Bill Attacks the Hard-Earned Contract Rights of Public Workers and Hurts Minority Communities by Stripping Away Collective Bargaining Rights and Removing Elected Leaders

                                                               

(Washington) Today, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) criticized the Michigan Senate for passing yesterday an amended version of Michigan House Bill 4214 that would authorize the Governor to appoint an “emergency manager” who could then replace duly elected local officials and terminate contractual obligations, including collective bargaining agreements, if a so-called “financial emergency” exists.

Mr. Conyers released the following statement:

This bill is an opportunistic power-grab by Republican state legislators who are taking advantage of Michigan’s temporary financial distress in a thinly disguised attempt to attack hard-won public worker protections and benefits, including their right to organize and represent themselves.

The takeover provision of the legislation – allowing the dissolution of locally elected bodies -- implicitly targets minority communities that are disproportionately impacted by the economic downturn, without providing meaningful support for improved economic opportunity. 

Worse yet, this bill raises serious constitutional concerns.  Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution explicitly prohibits any State from impairing a contract, which is exactly what this legislation does.  As the Supreme Court has held in Home Building & Loan Association v. Blaisdell (1934), the sanctity of contracts cannot be impaired by a state law “which renders them invalid, or releases or extinguishes them. . . .  Not only are existing laws read into contracts in order to fix obligations as between the parties, but the reservation of essential attributes of sovereign power is also read into contracts as a postulate of the legal order.” 

            Further, the bill empowers this financial czar with the Governor’s approval to force a municipality into bankruptcy, a power that will surely be used to extract further concessions from hardworking public sector workers.  And, by making the risk of bankruptcy a reality, the bill will make it more not lessexpensive for municipalities to obtain financing given this risk, which will make the financial circumstances of municipalities even worse.

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