The Michigan House of Representatives passed a pair of anti-union bills Wednesday night that make it harder for workers and unions to picket and easier for employers to hire workers to replace striking employees.
One bill would increase fines against picketers to $1,000 per person per day of a picket and $10,000 per day for an organization or union involved in the picket. That bill passed on a mostly party-line vote of 57-50.
The other would repeal a law that requires employers to include information about an ongoing strike when they advertise to hire employees who will replace existing, but striking employees at a company. That bill passed on a vote of 59-48 on a mostly party line vote.
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But Republicans said the bills are needed to protect businesses from protesters who are restricting access to places of business. State Rep. Gary Glenn, R-Midland, mentioned a picket at a McDonalds in Detroit and picketers who protested at the home of Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette as two incidents that need to be stopped.
The current law, which makes mass picketing a misdemeanor carrying a sentence of up to 93 days in jail and a $500 fine, "has proven to be insufficient to serve as a deterrent," Glenn said. This just increases the penalties for already illegal activities."
