Republicans rigging the system to favor corporate donors over hardworking school employees
LANSING – The Michigan AFL-CIO issued the following statement today on legislation approved in the Michigan Senate that will gut retirement savings for Michigan’s hardworking teachers and school employees.
“Cutting retirement savings for new teachers and school employees isn’t just mean, it’s dumb, and it’s downright reckless,” said Ron Bieber, president of the Michigan AFL-CIO. “Instead of improving our schools, this proposal will blow a massive hole in the state budget that will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars for decades to come. It will make it even harder to attract the best and the brightest people to careers in public education, which will make our teacher shortage even worse. That’s bad news for Michigan students and parents, because the key to a good job is a good education.
“Let’s be clear about what’s really going on here. This is just another example of how wealthy corporate donors like the DeVos family are using their money and influence to rig the economy against regular working people. Billionaires like the DeVos family would rather take pensions away from teachers, librarians, and bus drivers than pay their fair share to improve our schools. If these bills reach his desk, Governor Snyder should grow a backbone and veto them.”
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