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Bills Placing Limits on Unions Advance in Michigan Legislature

Legislation to limit union power advanced in Michigan, but not without protest.Credit...Stephen McGee for The New York Times

Steven Yaccino and

LANSING, Mich. — As labor supporters crowded into the Capitol chanting their dismay, this state’s Republican leaders announced on Thursday their intent to swiftly pass limits on unions in Michigan, a state with deep ties to organized labor.

“This is all about taking care of the hard-working workers of Michigan, about being pro-worker, about giving them the freedom to choose who they associate with,” said Gov. Rick Snyder, explaining why he would support such a measure — a shift in his position.

Earlier in his term, he urged fellow Republicans not to bring the matter to his desk, saying it would stir too much dissension and was not on his agenda.

By Thursday evening, the House, controlled by Republicans, had approved part of a package of legislation that would ultimately bar workers from being required to pay union fees as a condition of employment. Two similar but separate bills passed the Senate, also held by Republicans.

If the entire package of legislation goes through, which could happen as early as next week, Michigan, the birthplace of the United Automobile Workers, would become the 24th state in the nation to pass such a ban, a designation that was once largely focused far from the Midwestern rust belt.

“To do this now is very poor timing,” said James Settles Jr., a vice president for the U.A.W. “Labor and management have been cooperating closely in the automobile industry and have really helped the industry recover,” he said, adding at another point: “Michigan is on the rebound, and right-to-work is going to be very divisive. This will add to the divisiveness in the state.”

Coming somewhat abruptly in the waning days of a final legislative session before new lawmakers arrive in January, the push here — strongly opposed by labor leaders and Democrats, who say it is aimed at weakening unions — arrives at a volatile time for labor issues in Michigan.

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At one point, the police stopped allowing people to enter the Michigan Capitol, citing a potential safety risk.Credit...Stephen McGee for The New York Times

Last month, voters soundly rejected an amendment brought by labor leaders that would have enshrined collective bargaining rights in the State Constitution.

That proposal had irked Republicans who had long said a ban on required union fees would help the state lure new businesses, and the election outcome seemed to embolden the Republicans to come back with a push.

The effort in Michigan is only the latest in what has become a wave of renewed interest in such legislation over the last two years, particularly as states searched for ways to emerge from the economic downturn and attract new business.

Many supporters of the bill here cited neighboring Indiana, which this year became the first state in the Midwestern manufacturing belt to enact a ban and the first place anywhere to do so in a decade, as another reason to move forward now.

The Michigan legislation would affect workers in both private companies and public entities, although police officers and firefighters are excluded. About 17.5 percent of workers in Michigan are members of unions, state authorities said.

Around the Capitol, Republican lawmakers lauded the decision to push ahead, arguing that the move had been debated over many years here. Other states — Missouri, perhaps, or Maine — ought not be allowed to beat them in enacting such legislation, they said, thereby winning away potential businesses. “This is not about Republicans versus Democrats,” said Jase Bolger, a Republican and the House speaker. “This is not about management versus labor. This does not change collective bargaining. This is not anti-union.”

But hundreds of union members vehemently disagreed, pouring into the Capitol rotunda, chanting and blowing whistles in opposition in the echoing halls. “Union busting, it’s disgusting!” a group yelled.

“There wasn’t a middle class in the history of the United States before the unions,” said Gerald Florkowski, a retired assembly line worker from General Motors who drove from his home near Flint when he heard about the legislative push. “It was just the rich and the poor,” he said. “Now we’re going back to the rich and the poor.”

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Confrontations arose at times between union workers and people supporting the legislation curbing union fees.Credit...Stephen McGee for The New York Times

At points on Thursday, as news of the effort to pass a ban spread, tensions flared. Eight protesters were arrested, state police officials said, after several people rushed at troopers who were guarding the Senate chambers. At least one trooper used a substance similar to pepper spray in the crowd.

For a period in the afternoon, the police stopped allowing people to enter the Capitol, citing the potential for a safety risk, leaving another group of protesters outside.

Some Democrats objected to the closing and complained that Republicans were trying to rush the measures through — in part, by changing the language in existing bills to avoid a process that might normally take weeks. Recognizing they had no chance of defeating the legislation, they tried to use procedural maneuvers — offering amendments and calling for long readings of bills — to slow the voting process.

“You have a better chance of jumping into the Lansing River and finding Nemo than you have of this bill doing anything to increase wages,” State Senator Coleman A. Young II, a Democrat, told fellow senators from the chamber floor. “It’s fake. It’s a joke.”

Political analysts in Michigan said there might be a practical reason for the sudden rush. While Republicans will continue to control both legislative chambers, their control of the House will shrink to an eight-vote majority in January when newly elected legislators take office, compared with an 18-vote majority now.

Late Thursday, members of the House approved part of the package on a vote of 58 to 52. No Democrats voted for the measure, but several Republicans opposed it.

Governor Snyder, who had long sidestepped the issue, saying the state had more important problems to tackle, said in an interview that he would not himself have chosen to bring up the issue even now.

“We’ve come to the point over the last few weeks and the last month or two where that issue was on the table whether I wanted it to be there or not,” he said. “And given that it is on the table, I think it is appropriate to be a good leader and to stand up and take a position on this issue.”

Steven Yaccino reported from Lansing, Mich., and Monica Davey from Chicago. Steven Greenhouse contributed reporting from Washington.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 17 of the New York edition with the headline: Bills Placing Limits on Unions Advance in Michigan Legislature. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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