As the eight years of office for Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm comes to an end, the building trades can look back on her term with mixed emotions. The governor mostly delivered on a promise to give organized labor “a seat at the table,” in state government, and has bolstered the state’s prevailing wage law along with worker safety measures.

But fairly or unfairly, Granholm has been the target of blame for Michigan’s economic malaise and a disfunctional state government. And the governor has also drawn the ire of the building trades for the refusal of her administration to push through permits for a handful of billion dollar-plus clean-coal-burning power plants, which would have been instant job generators.

Her replacement will either be Democrat and Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, or Republican and former Gateway CEO Rick Snyder. Bernero has been endorsed for governor by the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council’s Executive Board after the council endorsed Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon in the gubernatorial primary.

Bernero gained notoriety last year by getting dubbed the “angry mayor” when on national television interviews he argued loudly in favor of government aid to General Motors and Chrysler, while defending union members who were accused of earning too much and enjoying benefits that are too generous.

“I was a little offended by your question,” Bernero told a Fox News interviewer. “Have the unions given up enough? Has the working man given up enough? My question is, has Wall Street given up enough for the billions they have taken? I am so sick and tired of the double standard. One standard for Washington and Wall Street and another standard for working people in this country. It always comes down to, in order to be more competitive we have to take it out of the hide of the working person. Cut their pay. Cut their benefits. How much is enough? Let me ask you, have the bonuses on Wall Street been given up? What has Wall Street given up? What has Washington given up? We’ll take our lumps, but let’s have some reciprocity in this country.”

“We think when the choice comes down to Virg Bernero or Rick Snyder for governor, Bernero is a better choice for the state’s working people,” said Patrick Devlin, secretary-treasurer of the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council. “We think he understands that the state’s unions and working people didn’t get us into this economic mess, and that pointing us back in the direction of prosperity doesn’t have to be done by lowering living standards for working people.”

Snyder is seen as a moderate Republican, but so far, the self-proclaimed “tough nerd” is very much a blank slate when it comes to predicting how he would govern Michigan. He said a right-to-work proposal for Michigan “is not on my agenda” and is “a divisive, polarizing issue.” Snyder has said he’s “not anti-union or pro-union. I want to get the job done.”

The Republican nominee, however, has no track record in public office, and he certainly will be dealing with an even more conservative group of lawmakers in both the House and Senate due to the influence of the Tea Party.

“We don’t really frankly know what Rick Snyder is going to exactly propose when it comes to the state budget and revenue and taxes and everything else,” said Bill Ballenger, the editor of Inside Michigan Politics, to Ann Arbor.com “He’s made some very broad statements – he said he doesn’t like the Michigan Business Tax. Who does? Furthermore, we don’t know that he has any differences with the rank-and-file Republican membership of the Legislature.”

Ballenger added, “When you get right down to it, all that I know of that shows that Rick Snyder might be a moderate, or more moderate than a lot of Republicans … is that he supports stem cell research and that apparently he’s not an avowed opponent of gay marriage. I mean, these things are not issues in Lansing right now.”

Snyder certainly won’t be like Granholm – and for organized labor, that’s mostly a bad thing. For all the heat the governor has taken, it’s hard to fault for her support of unions and the working class.

For example, the Construction Safety Division of MIOSHA has been markedly more proactive and cooperative with contractors, resulting in an increased focus on reducing worker injuries and fatalities – and those efforts have worked. Construction injuries and fatalities have fallen significantly over the last eight years. Numerous union members have been appointed to state agencies that can indirectly affect construction, or directly promulgate construction rules and codes.

The state’s prevailing wage law – the single most important law upholding wages for the building trades in the Michigan – has not been a target for repeal over the last eight years.

The governor would have supported “Hire Michigan First” proposals that would have made it state policy to use state tax dollars to hire Michigan firms before those that are out of state. State Republicans called that bill “anti-business,” and killed it.

“People will say what they will about Governor Granholm, but clearly she created a more positive environment in Lansing regarding unions and working people,” said Devlin. “And that philosophy has filtered down into the rest of state government and into the legislature. Would that pro-worker attitude in state government continue under Virg Bernero? I’m sure it would. But under Rick Snyder? We’re not exactly sure what we’re getting with Rick Snyder.”