> Editorial: Unions must adapt to the times
> Michigan's public employee unions must adapt to economic times and
> stop counterproductive tactics
> This Labor Day presents a moment of truth for public employee unions
> in Michigan. They should recognize the state's dire economic situation
> and adapt. Instead, from the union halls in Detroit to the campus of
> Oakland University in Rochester, there is the same old
> fire-and-brimstone talk about keeping what they have and the
> unfairness of city and university leaders.
>
> In Detroit, at least one city union is talking about walking out
> because of Mayor Dave Bing's demands for pay cuts and benefit reforms.
> In Rochester, Oakland University faculty union members showed their
> disconnect from the fiscal realities afflicting this state by striking
> and shutting down classes since Thursday for the campus's 18,000
> students. The faculty union has been upset with the university's
> demands for a pay freeze, reductions in health care options, cuts in
> summer pay and elimination of research leaves. It doesn't like a
> university request to hire non-tenure-track professors. The union also
> contends that the administration did not engage in serious bargaining
> until recently.
>
> But some of the administration's demands shouldn't have been too much
> of a surprise. The school announced in June that it was imposing a pay
> freeze on its administrative staff and would be seeking less expensive
> health insurance packages as well.
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