When billionaire CEOs ask a politician to jump, apparently the proper response is—if Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) is any indication—“how high?” Earlier this year, Snyder told the U.S. House education and Workforce Committee (see the video in this blog post):

Right-to-work is an issue that is a very divisive issue… we have many problems in Michigan that are much more pressing… I don't believe it is appropriate in Michigan during 2012.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Republican legislators are doing their best to ram through “right to work” for less legislation that passed the state House and Senate on Thursday, even going so far as shutting the Capitol’s doors on workers seeking to make their voices heard.

But final action on this assault on workers’ rights won’t come until next week, and if you are in Michigan, you can join the drive to protect workers’ rights by volunteering at the Michigan State AFL-CIO phone bank in Lansing today through Monday, Dec. 10.

The Michigan State Senate just passed the “right to work” for less bill. The House passed a similar bill earlier today and Gov. Rick Snyder (R) says he will sign the legislation that rolls back workers’ rights.

White House spokesperson Matt Lehrich said Thursday the president opposes "right to work" for less laws like legislation proposed in Michigan.

Reports coming in from Twitter, via #saveMI and other hashtags, say that the Michigan state Capitol is locked down and protesters are being denied access. MLive confirms that several of the 3,000 protesters on hand have been arrested and that mace was used on several of them after they tried to enter the Senate chambers. Police say no one else is being allowed in the building because they fear that the structural integrity of the building was threatened. At least eight arrests were made, according to police, for "impeding the flow of pedestrian traffic." Working families and their allies are rallying at the Capitol in opposition to a new "right to work" for less proposal being put forth by Gov. Rick Snyder and legislative Republicans.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka condemned the actions of Gov. Rick Snyder and the radical Republicans in Michigan who announced today that "right to work" for less legislation would be pushed forward in the state's "lame-duck" session. Working families filled the Lansing Capitol building Thursday, outraged at the attempts to strip them of their voice in the workplace. Snyder is the latest in a line of extreme Republican governors, such as Scott Walker of Wisconsin, John Kasich of Ohio and Rick Scott of Florida, who are assaulting the rights of working families.

The "right to work" for less bill is now "on the table" in Michigan. 

If you're in Michigan, please call your state representative at 888-979-7280 to save the rights of Michigan’s workers. Tell your senator to vote NO on Michigan's “right to work” bill.

After a long series of coordinated attacks on the collective bargaining rights of working families in states like Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida and elsewhere, union members and their allies in Michigan are being proactive. They have placed a referendum on the ballot, known as Proposal 2, which would make the right to collective bargaining part of the state's constitution and would ban "right to work" for less laws.

The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that a proposal to preserve collective bargaining rights for Michigan workers be placed on the November ballot. The four-member Board of State Canvassers—two Republicans and two Democrats—had deadlocked on allowing the issue on the ballot. Michigan State AFL-CIO President Karla Swift says:

Corporate special interests pushed Lansing politicians to pressure the court leading up to the decision. But the court confirmed there is no legal reason to deny people the opportunity to vote on the proposal.

While anti-worker bills in state capitols across the country still threaten middle-class families, Republican state legislatures are beginning to second guess whether to continue pursuing their extreme agenda attacking working families.

Yesterday morning, the Republican-controlled New Hampshire Senate tabled HB 1677, the so-called “right to work” bill.  This bill is the pet of Speaker Bill O’Brien, dubbed by a recent Concord Monitor editorial as a “self-drawn caricature of vindictiveness and power run [amok].”  “Right to work” failed last year, and so far this year it has failed to muster a veto-proof majority.