A good opportunity to hear about the state of the State of Michigan's organized labor sector took place Sept. 30 at the Michigan State AFL-CIO quarterly General Board meeting.

Prevailing wage, minimum wage, politics, health care and a new labor museum were all on the agenda for some 50 AFL-CIO delegates from around the state. Following is a sampling of what's going in the Michigan labor movement:

Minimum wage. 
Raising the state's minimum wage - which is $5.15 per hour - to $7.15 per hour over a two-year period, is one of the state federation's top prioroties. The last state minimum wage increase was in 1997.

The Michigan AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions plan to collect 450,000 signatures to place the issue on the ballot in 2006, and make minimum wage increases indexed to inflation part of the state constitution. Raising the minimum wage doesn't have a chance in the Republican-run Michigan legislature, but polls say an overwhelming majority of state voters would vote in favor of a raise.

State spending, responsibly
Sean Carlson, director of the state office of acquisition services, told delegates that his office controls some $11.5 billion in state spending, involving 2,200 goods and services contracts. He said the bottom line is hardly their only consideration when hiring vendors.

Other considerations are whether a company is responsible, inclusive, and offers good-paying jobs.

"It kills me to assign a purchase order to companies in Tennessee or Ohio when there are companies in Michigan that can do the work, but don't bid," he said. "We're working on those that don't bid. We're not in the business of cronyism; competition is good."
The state has steadily increased the field of bidders on state work, Carlson said, with favorable results. Single bidders won $592 million worth of state work - or 20 percent of state spending - in the two-year period to Dec. 31, 2002 at the end of the Engler Administration.

But in the two-year period through Dec. 31, 2004 during the Granholm Administration, single-source bidding had dropped to below 10 percent, saving the state $41 million. This year, he said Michigan became one of two states in the nation that banned one-source bidding for state work.

Carlson also said the state has made a commitment to not only support, but enforce the Michigan Prevailing Wage Act. He pointed to an editorial in the Detroit News, praising President Bush's decision to suspend prevailing wage in hurricane-stricken areas.

"The editorial used a phrase, don't taxpayers deserve to get best value for the price," Carlson said. "We think that best value is about good wages and putting taxpayer money back into the community."

Gaffney sumarized: "This is what you get when you have a Democratic governor."

Shifting populations. 
Demographic shifts may mean renewed attention from organized labor for three Michigan regions.

Gaffney said downstate retirees from auto plants and other union positions are increasingly moving north - and changing the voting makeup of the Grand Traverse region, the Alpena area, and the area around Midland.

As a result, the state AFL-CIO is looking to increase its presence in those areas, possibly by adding political organizing staff and creation of an area labor council.

A state AFL-CIO draft resolution says about the areas: "The 106th House District (Alpena), the 97th House District (Clare, Galdwin) and the 36th Senate District (Midland to Alpena) are all important marginal election districts and the ability to perform political organizing and mobilizing is critical there.

"Also, areas like Traverse City and Oscoda are growing in Democratic capacity and resources and efforts are needed to nurture this."

Monroe labor museum. 
Michigan doesn't have a labor museum. Monroe County would like to create the state's first.

A presentation by Bill Conner of the Monroe/Lenawee Central Labor Council to state AFL-CIO delegates said that a long-term plan is in the works to turn a downtown two-story brick building at No. 37 and No. 41 W. Front Street into a labor museum.

Built in 1912, the building wasn't used as a labor hall until it was purchased in 1946 by the Monroe County CIO. The building has been continuously owned by the Monroe County Council CIO Social & Welfare Association since then. It was dubbed the "Murray Building" after a Steelworkers president in the 1950s.

Phase One of the project consists of new construction on the south end of the existing building. New construction will add a two-story stairwell and elevator access between the first and second floors. Phase Two will include demolition and interior renovations, including electrical and plumbing improvements.

For more information, go to www.reuther.wayne.edu/mclh/laborhistory.html.