Michigan Senate votes to force public employers to give unions workers' contact info
Craig MaugerLansing — The Democratic-controlled Michigan Senate voted Thursday to require public employers, like state agencies and schools, to provide personal contact information of workers to labor unions who represent them in negotiations.
The proposal passed along party lines in a vote of 20-18. Democrats in the majority said the measure was needed to ensure unions had the ability to help employees. But minority Republicans contended the change could lead to harassment, and, they said, the intent was to give a "handout" to labor organizations who supported Democratic lawmakers' campaigns.
Democrats won control of the Michigan Legislature for the first time in 40 years in November and in their first five months in power, have approved a series of bills backed by unions, including repealing the state's 2012 right-to-work law.
More:Labor unions, big campaign donors, winning in first months under Democratic control
Before the vote Thursday, Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, said the new bill wasn't needed and would lead to the harassment of employees who choose not to join unions.
“I am just absolutely shocked at the lack of consideration we are affording to our state employees today," McBroom said. "And for what? Who needs this? Who’s asking for this? Are the state employees asking for this?”
But Sen. John Cherry, D-Flint, who sponsored the bill, said employees are harmed when unions don't know when they're hired.
"Ultimately, it is the role of a union to represent employees, and when there is an issue between a represented employee and their employer to defend that employee," Cherry said.
As for who pushed for the bill, which would impact all public employers with workers represented by unions, Cherry said a combination of labor groups and state employees had asked for it.
Cherry said "most" public employers already provide contact information to unions.
But Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, questioned whether those employers were providing the array of information required under the bill.
The proposal says the provided details must include an address, personal telephone number, personal email address and employee identification number. Government employers would have to hand over the information every 90 days.
The provided address would be the worker's home address unless that address has been deemed "confidential" under a state program that protects victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and human trafficking and those who fear that disclosure could put them at physical risk.
Cherry said the bill included home addresses because the employees aren't supposed to be talking with union officials during work hours.
Michigan lawmakers voted to repeal the 2012 right-to-work law in March. The GOP-backed law barred union contracts from mandating workers to join unions or pay dues as a condition of employment.
However, it's a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision that currently governs public employees. That ruling found mandatory membership fees among public sector unions violated the First Amendment.
Nesbitt told reporters the bill featured "no limitations" for how unions could use the contact information government employees had to distribute.
"At the end of the day, this is just another political handout to their biggest supporter," Nesbitt said of Democrats' relationship with unions.
Asked whether labor unions could use the information they received, under the bill, to send political messages to workers, Cherry acknowledged there was nothing to encourage it or stop it.
The bill now goes to the state House for consideration.