The Michigan Daily-Wednesday, July 9,1980-Page 5
LEGISLATURE OKs RIGHT- TO-STRIKE MEASURE
Milliken
By BONNIE JURAN
Gov. William Milliken is expected to
veto a bill legalizing public employee
strikes which was recently endorsed by
the state House and Senate, according
to legislative officials.
Milliken is expected to act on the
measure within a week, Milliken's
legislative aide, Bill Long, said..
LONG POINTED to one of the bill's
provisions, which allows courts to send
the strike into binding arbitration, as a
reason the governor. may quash the
measure.
Binding arbitration is currently used
only in the case of a strike by police or
firefighters, acci
plained this is N
"critical" that tt
to work as quickl
Long said he bh
wish to negotiate
ployees for a long
it is not quite as
return to workp
ding arbitration
would allow an
agreement whi
costly" to the em
CITING THE
9,000 members
Federation of
Municipal Emp
ikely
ording to Long. He ex- Detroit, Lo
ecause it is considered Young's opti
hose employees return junction cou
y as possible. tlement if th
elieves employers may binding arbi
with other public em- The mun:
ger period of time since "another in
imperative that they pact the bill
promptly. But the bin- added.
clause, he continued, AFSCMEl
arbitrator to reach an Newman sa
ch could be "quite bitration is
ployer. get a fair set
current walk-out of "PEOPLE
of the American negotiate fo
State, County and but if they c
loyees (AFSCME) in the table," t
of binding ar
to veto bill
ng said Mayor Coleman these rights.
on of requesting a court in- IN ADDITION, Long said Milliken
ld lead to an expensive set- disagrees with the bill's provision to ex-
e strike was ended through tend the school year ten calendar days
tration. as a result of a strike by teachers. The
icipal workers' strike is governor believes the school year
dication of how much im- should only be lengthened five days in
can have on the city," he the event of a strike. according to the
aide.
local 1583 President Dwight John Lamberts, executive assistant
id he believes binding ar- to state Sen. Robert VanderLaan (R-
"the one way that you can Kentwood), who is an opponent of the
tlement." bill, said he would be "very surprised"
(INVOLVED in a strike) if the state House and Senate overrode
r a reasonable settlement, the governor's expected veto.
an't reach an agreement at Citing the fact that botr chambers
hey must accept the results need a two-thirds majority to override
bitration, he said. the veto, Lamberts said he "didn't see
to Long, the governor is any possibility" of getting that number
ed to the bill's narrow of votes. Lamberts added the House
f supervisor. As the bill and Senate needed only a "simple
continued, some workers majority to pass the measure initially.
esently considered super- Lamberts said he believes that if
e re-labeled as employees, proponents of the bill decide to re-
d the right to organize and introduce the measure in revised form,
ectively. they probably will not do so until next
Drs are currently denied year.
Party files suit to
amend state ballot laws
(ACLU) Funds of Michigan said he will
By ELAINE RIDEOUT ask that Secretary of State Richard
Former Ann Arbor Mayor Robert Austin be ordered to place the Citizens
Harris was scheduled to file suit in party on the November ballot.
Washtenaw County Circuit Court this The party has adopted a platform
morning on behalf of the Citizens party calling, for public control of energy
to contend the costitutionality of resources, a job for everyone, human
Michigan's ballot access law. rights, and a reduction in military
The suit claims the McCullough Act spending. Said Commoner, "The large
(Michigan Public Act 94 of 1976) amount of non-participation we see
severely restricts the rights of minor today is because the people of this coun-
parties to participate in general elec- try have literally rejected the two main
tions for local, state, and federal of- parties as being unable to represent
fices, and that the statute discriminates them."
Pin favor of the. Republican and
Democratic parties.
ACCORDING TO Enid Eckstein,
Coordinator of the Michigan Citizens
Party, the law requires all minor par-
ties to win .3 per cent of the total votes
cast in the August primary to qualify
for the November ballot. "Michigan is SUNJUNS'
the only state with this strange two- desk to disc
stage requirement," she said. "A minor A rhythmic
party must get a certain-percentage as
well as fulfill the existing petition
requirement - that's why we believe
the law is extremely restrictive."
The Citizens Party submitted 30,000
signatures to the secretary of state's of-
fice last May, which, she said, should be
-sufficient to qualify the party for the
November general elections.
According to Eckstein, the Mc-
Cullough Act was enacted solely to
prevent there being more parties on the
ballot than could be accommodated on
a single voting machine, especially in
large cities like Detroit. Since then,
Detroit has adopted punch card voting.
THE PLAINTIFFS of the suit include
Barry Commoner, the Citizens party
candidate for president. Also named as
plaintiffs are Zolton Ferency, a former
candidate for governor, Mark Robin-
son, state co-chair of the Citizens party,
and Tommie Suber, a resident of the
13th congressional district.
Robinson explained why the Mc-
Cullough Act discriminates against
minor parties. "In 1976, the first elec-
tion since its passage; not one minor
party qualified for the November elec-
tions. In every election in this century
prior to 1976,' Michigan voters have
been able to choose among an average
of six parties. It's obvious this law
restricts the citizen's political choices,"
he said.
Suber complained that in voting for a
minor party, a voter is disqualified
from participating in the Republican or 529 E. LIBERTY
Democratic primaries. ANN ARBOR
Harris, serving as volunteer attorney
for the American Civil Liberties Union
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