GOP bills aimed at public sector unions moving through Legislature

Updated at 3:29 p.m.

Two GOP bills aimed at public sector union employees in Michigan passed out of a House committee hearing this morning.

House Bill 5368, sponsored by Rep. Pamela Hornberger (R-Chesterfield Twp.), would prevent public school employees from having union work count toward their retirement pensions.

House Bill 6474, sponsored by Rep. Steve Johnson (R-Wayland), would prevent municipal workers from getting paid for union business. The Senate last month passed its version of the legislation, Senate Bills 795 and 796 both sponsored by Sen. Marty Knollenberg (R-Troy). 

The House bills would have an “intermediate fiscal impact” for local schools and municipalities, according to the nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency.

In this last fiscal year, about $1.6 million was paid out for “release” time for public school officials, according to the agency.

The Michigan Education Association, the biggest union representing teachers in the state, has mobilized its membership against the bills. And UAW officials are less than happy with the legislation.

“All this legislation will do is make it harder on UAW members to resolve issues in the workplace and create unnecessary bureaucracy in their workplace every two years,” Ed Mitchell, president of UAW Local 6000, in a statement, per a report in the Lansing State Journal.