By Ben Velderman
EAGnews.org

LANSING, Mich. – Republican lawmakers and left-leaning public universities are engaged in a high-stakes chess match over Michigan’s pending right-to-work law.

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Michigan Capitol Confidential reports that numbers state universities are considering new long-term collective bargaining agreements with labor unions that would lock university employees – mostly professors – into union membership as a condition of employment.

Forced unionism will be a thing of the past in Michigan when the new right-to-work law takes effect on March 28. Public employee unions, such as the University Professors-American Federation of Teachers, know the new law poses an existential threat. That’s why the unions and their friends on several Michigan university boards have been trying to beat the clock with new contracts that make union membership – and dues payments – mandatory for years to come.

To counter any such moves, state Rep. Al Pscholka recently announced that universities will only be eligible for a share of a $100 million “performance fund” if they don’t negotiate a right-to-work dodging contract, reports Michigan Capitol Confidential.

The performance fund has traditionally been used to “encourage” universities to exercise tuition restraint. But Pscholka is expanding the eligibility criteria to protect the right-to-work principle.

“My criteria (to qualify for performance funds dollars) is fiduciary responsibility,” Pscholka said. “That means no contracts negotiated between Dec. 10 and March 27, unless they represent at least 10 percent savings for the taxpayers.”

According to Capitol Confidential, “So far, Wayne State University is the only university in the state that has negotiated a union contract that dodges the right-to-work law. WSU announced a new eight-year agreement last week that would allow the University Professors-American Federation of Teachers to keep getting dues through 2020.”

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WSU is one of three Michigan universities with a board that’s controlled by a large majority of Democratic members, who are typically pro-union.

“They’re getting a significant amount of pressure from labor to make this into something political,” said Pscholka. “I think it’s all about thumbing their noses at the legislature. But what they may not realize is that it is also poking their thumbs in the eyes of the taxpayers.”

One commentator offered this colorful description of the situation: “Essentially, universities have a choice – they can lock themselves into long-term, crappy contracts, and lose money from the state. Or, they can operate as they have, with shorter contracts and the possibility of tapping extra money.”