In Michigan, a labor coalition, including the UAW and the Michigan Education Association, has launched a campaign called “Protect Our Jobs.” The goal is to protect collective bargaining rights and also to pre-empt any effort to make Michigan a so-called “right to work” state.

A federal judge has ruled that Michigan’s ban on the use of project labor agreements—pushed by Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and anti-worker lawmakers—is unconstitutional. The suit was brought by the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council. 

While Mitt Romney is campaigning in Michigan this week, workers there are letting him know just how offensive they find his claim that “we should have let Detroit go bankrupt,” when the economy and the auto industry were about to collapse.

Donald Cohen, founder and executive director of In the Public Interest, a national resource center on privatization and responsible contracting, sends us this.

It seems there’s no public service or piece of property that private companies are not eyeing as potential revenue streams.  While funding anti-government think tanks like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), companies like Corrections Corporation of America, Waste Management, Maximus, Intuit, Laidlaw, Northrup Grumman, Koch Companies, Macquarie Capital Advisers, Pinnacle West, and UnitedHealthcare are hoping to use government as their candy store.

AFL-CIO Field Communications staffer Cathy Sherwin sends us this report.

Following the State of the State address last week, Michigan’s Gov. Rick Snyder held an online town hall meeting. Participating on Twitter using the hashtag #AskGovSnyder, union workers, the Michigan State AFL-CIO and progressive allies kept the questions coming—on jobs, needed infrastructure investments and education.

Tonight in Detroit, where hundreds of activists are gathered for the annual AFL-CIO Martin Luther King Jr. Day Observance, participants will honor several individuals for their outstanding contributions to working people. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will receive the top honor for her extraordinary dedication and commitment to improving the lives of workers throughout her lifetime. The At the River I Stand award is given to a national leader who has demonstrated an unyielding commitment to civil rights and workers’ rights.

AFL-CIO Field Communications staffer Cathy Sherwin sends us this report.

Opponents of working people in Michigan are pushing a bill that would gut protections for workers hurt on the job and give employers more power to dictate where injured workers could seek treatment. The bill also would slash benefits by factoring in “imaginary” wages and pensions and deducting from benefits—reducing workers’ compensation by the amount someone might be able to earn, regardless of the availability of an actual job.

The Michigan House of Representatives voted yesterday to gut the state’s workers’ compensation system (H.B. 5002).

Michael J. Smith, AFL-CIO Community Services liaison for United Way of Monroe County (Mich.), sends us this report.

Kids in Monroe, Mich., will be able to bundle up against the cold Michigan winter with new coats, thanks to Utility Workers (UWUA) Local 223 and DTE Energy. The workers and management at the Monroe Power Plant raised $1,600 to purchase coats that were then donated to the Salvation Army’s Coats for Kids program.

AFL-CIO Community Services liaison Michael Smith helped out with this event and sends us this report.

More than 400 families received free food in Bedford, Mich., over the weekend as part of an event coordinated by the Monroe-Lenawee AFL-CIO, the Monroe County United Way and the Monroe County Opportunity Program.