commitment from quite a lot of volunteers, you can have a lot of money and still be very weak.” Kat Brausch, Rackham student and grievance committee co-chair of GEO, warned that right-to- work laws could result in unions having too few members or funds to continue, but clarified this is not currently a concern for GEO. “Right-to-work is intended to set up a sort of financial death spiral in a way because people do not have to be members, fewer people are paying dues,” Brausch said. “The union has less money to spend on both our sort of day- to-day activities, our collective bargaining, our general support for our members and things like that. And we have to put more of our efforts into member organizing to make sure that we get as many members as possible.” “But with less money, we have less resources to put into member organizing, which means that then there were fewer people joining the union and less money to put into organizing,” Brausch added. LSA professor Bob King is a former president of United Auto Workers, a prominent union in the U.S. and Canada with more than 980,000 members. King said unions can retain members even when subject to right-to-work laws. “UAW is still able to have an effective voice and effective power to get good contracts,” King said. “So good contracts are what keeps high membership, I think. And so overall, unions that have that power in the industry or power to the employer, they keep high memberships. If they don’t have, or if they have less power to deliver the kind of contracts they want, then I think it impacts membership more.” McCann said Shirkey’s support for right-to-work legislation is driven by the belief it would benefit the Michigan economy. “Michigan has absolutely experienced an economic recovery as a result of multiple factors, but the Majority Leader would argue that Michigan becoming a ‘Freedom to Choose’ state did factor into the decision-making for companies looking to Michigan to locate,” McCann wrote. “It was a policy that (made) Michigan much more economically competitive. Furthermore, union membership has not seen a significant loss of members — proving Senator Shirkey’s point that the union has the ability to make the case for the value of membership.” There has long been a national trend toward restricting unions and strengthening right-to-work legislation. In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court held that public sector union fair share fees were lawful and could be used for collective bargaining in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education. The ruling was overturned in 2018 with Janus v. AFSCME, making right-to-work the national norm. The decision meant public employees do not have to pay union fees to cover the costs of collective bargaining, undermining the laws in 22 states with “fair share” provisions requiring non-members to pay these fees. Michigan’s economy has improved since the passage of the right-to-work bill, but pinpointing the impacts of a single piece of legislation is a difficult task. Many academic studies have sought to evaluate the results of right-to-work laws, but numerous factors contribute to economic growth. While this legislation can help foster a more business-friendly environment, determining those effects with certainty isn’t easily done. However, some studies indicate adverse results in terms of union membership and wage growth. According to a study by Frank Manzo, the policy director of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, and Robert Bruno, a labor professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the Janus decision could reduce union membership among state and local government employees by 726,000 people. Manzo and Bruno also estimated wages for that group of employees could fall by an average of 3.6%. A different article in the Labor Studies Journal found that right- to-work laws had no impact on employment and negatively affected other aspects of the economy. While state law was on the University’s side in the labor dispute with the graduate students, the union and their supporters were frustrated with the school’s request for an injunction against GEO — the University’s own students. In the aftermath of the strike, GEO spokesperson Leah Bernardo- Ciddio said the union felt like its hand had been forced. “We are all feeling a little bit upset and frustrated and devastated that we were backed into a legal corner, and we had to choose between our demands and the future of our union,” Bernardo-Ciddio said. The graduate students aren’t the first on campus to resort to a strike — or the threat of one — when seeking concessions from the University. In the spring of 2018, after a months- long bargaining campaign, LEO members came close to initiating a work stoppage, which also would have violated state law. LEO called off the work stoppage when the union determined that the University’s bargaining team had started to “move in the right direction” at a last-ditch bargaining session. Robinson said unions have to use the options available to them when making demands on behalf of their members. “The way I look at it is, over the years, there’s a series of promises that the University has made and not kept,” Robinson said. “Every now and then LEO should feel free to make a promise and to not keep a promise.” According to Robinson, striking is justified in certain circumstances. “My view has been, it’s the law, but we used to have apartheid laws, we used to have laws against Black and white people using the same water fountains,” Robinson said. “There’s laws that you should obey because they’re morally sound and everybody benefits from them and everyone should follow them, and there’s laws that really ought to be broken because they are unjust laws.” The Michigan Daily (ISSN 0745-967) is publishing weekly on Wednesdays for the Fall 2020 semester by students at the University of Michigan. One copy is available free of charge to all readers. Additional copies may be picked up at the Daily’s office for $2. If you would like a current copy of the paper mailed to you, please visit store. pub.umich.edu/michigan-daily-buy-this-edition to place your order. ERIN WHITE Managing Editor ekwhite@michigandaily.com SAYALI AMIN and LEAH GRAHAM Managing News Editors news@michigandaily.com Senior News Editors: Barbara Collins, Claire Hao, Alex Harring, Ben Rosenfeld, Emma Stein, Liat Weinstein Investigative Editor: Zayna Syed Assistant News Editors: Iulia Dobrin, Julia Forrest, Jasmin Lee, Calder Lewis, Angelina Little, Hannah Mackay, Sarah Payne, Emma Ruberg, Julia Rubin, Jenna Siteman, Varsha Vedapudi, Kristina Zheng EMILY CONSIDINE and BRITTANY BOWMAN Editorial Page Editors tothedaily@michigandaily.com Senior Opinion Editors: Elizabeth Cook, Zack Blumberg, Krystal Hur, Min Soo Kim, Joel Weiner JOHN DECKER and JULIANNA MORANO Managing Arts Editors arts@michigandaily.com ALLISON ENGKVIST and ANNIE KLUSENDORF Managing Photo Editors photo@michigandaily.com MAGDALENA MIHAYLOVA Managing Statement Editor statement@michigandaily.com Deputy Editors: Andie Horowitz, Marisa Wright Associate Editor: Isabelle Hasslund MADISON GAGNE and SADIA JIBAN Managing Copy Editors copydesk@michigandaily.com Senior Copy Editors: Olivia Bradish, Sophie Kephart, Silas Lee, Olivia Sedlacek, Ellie Scott PARTH DHYANI and SIMRAN PUJJI Managing Online Editors webteam@michigandaily.com Senior Web Developers: Abha Panda, Rohan Prashant, Jonathan Liu ALEC COHEN and ELI SIDER Managing Video Editors video@michigandaily.com Senior Michigan in Color Editors: Zoha Bharwani, Lora Faraj, Ana Maria Sanchez Castillo, Gabrijela Skoko Senior Sports Editors: Daniel Dash, Lily Friedman, Connor Brennan, Brendan Roose, Kent Schwartz, Lane Kizziah, Rian Ratnavale Assistant Sports Editors: Jared Greenspan, Nick Stoll, Drew Cox, Aidan Woutas, Abby Snyder, Jack Kingsley Senior Video Editor: Iulia Dobrin Senior Social Media Editors: Kristina Zheng, Ria Dubey, Ryan Postman, Haley Johnson, Atticus Raasch, Asha Lewis Stanford Lipsey Student Publications Building 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1327 www.michigandaily.com ARTS SECTION arts@michigandaily.com SPORTS SECTION sports@michigandaily.com NEWS TIPS news@michigandaily.com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR tothedaily@michigandaily.com EDITORIAL PAGE opinion@michigandaily.com ANITA MICHAUD Business Manager ammichau@michigandaily.com ELIZABETH LAWRENCE Editor in Chief esla@michigandaily.com PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION photo@michigandaily.com NEWSROOM 734-418-4115 opt.3 CORRECTIONS corrections@michigandaily.com THEO MACKIE and ETHAN SEARS Managing Sports Editors sportseditors@michigandaily.com Senior Arts Editors: Jo Chang, Elise Godfryd, Zoe Phillips, Jonah Mendelson, Ally Owens Arts Beat Editors: Samantha Cantie, Dana Pierangeli, Andrew Pluta, Cassandra Mansuetti, Anish Tamhaney, Sophia Yoon CHRISTINE JEGARL and LIZZY RUEPPEL Managing Design Editors design@michigandaily.com Senior Design Editor: Hibah Mirza MAYA MOKH and DEVAK NANUA Michigan in Color Editors michiganincolor@michigandaily.com JOHN GRIEVE and BEN KORN Managing Social Media Editors Editorial Staff Business Staff Senior Photo Editors: Madeline Hinkley, Asha Lewis, Miles Macklin Assistant Photo Editors: Julia Schachinger, Ryan Little, Emma Mati, Sophia Afendoulis, Becca Mahon MOLLY WU Creative Director SAMANTHA SMALL and SONYA VOGEL Managing Podcast Editors RYAN KELLY Sales Manager Read more at MichiganDaily.com The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com News 2 — Wednesday, October 21, 2020 BECCA MAHON/Daily Ann Arbor public schools are working together to adapt a learning environment which meets new safety standards. ADVERTISING WMG-contact@umich.edu In an attempt to find a compromise between a COVID- 19 safe environment and in-person schooling, Washtenaw County Health Department and Washtenaw Intermediate School District released a call to action on Oct. 12, emphasizing the importance of a joint community effort to bring kids back to schools safely. “We wanted to raise awareness,” Naomi Norman, the interim superintendent of Washtenaw Intermediate School District, said. “Our ability to go back to school successfully face-to-face was dependent not only on our schools having really strong safety protocols, but that as a larger community, as families and all the people who touch our families, we all have to be working together on having healthy practices so that we can minimize the spread of COVID-19.” Ann Arbor Public Schools is one of the few school districts in Washtenaw County doing virtual learning. The call to action letter says all school communities have the responsibility to look after one another. “Even when you feel like you’re in your own bubble or in your own space, you are part of a larger Washington County community and we have to count on everyone,” Norman said. “Every one of us matters to this effort.” The letter said teachers and staff are missing their students and that there is mutual effort needed from both the school districts and the communities as a whole to bring students back. The call to action lists important safety guidelines to help minimize the spread of COVID- 19, such as hand washing, getting a flu vaccine, wearing face masks and practicing social distancing. Currently, 30 district officials, including the nine public school superintendents, have signed the joint call-to-action letter. Huron High School history teacher Jeff DeMoss is one of the many teachers who are striving to create a virtual community. He said Zoom is not conducive to a positive and healthy classroom environment. “Creating a community for me relies a lot upon people practicing some vulnerability and being willing to share things about their identity, about their political or social beliefs,” DeMoss said. “When it’s on a screen, and people are just in their room frequently with their cameras off, students don’t feel safe to share.” AAPS has put effort into creating support systems for students and teachers. DeMoss said teachers went through weeks of professional development to establish the new virtual education proceedings. He also said students have been creating community through different clubs and organizations. Huron High School senior Aakarsh Verma said adjusting to online school has been difficult but has created a sense of camaraderie among students. “Overcoming a lot of those technical difficulties that are bound to arise when you transition to an entirely virtual platform for learning,” Verma said. “We’ve been patient with our teachers and we’ve been helping them where we can and that has established a sort of community through the shared learning curve that has brought us together.” DeMoss said he was concerned that virtual learning affects students’ mental health. “They are isolated,” DeMoss said. “But those connections are not able to fully be there, the same as if we were in-person.” The mental and social health of students are one of the main concerns of virtual schooling, but many school districts are facing difficult decisions on whether or not these social and mental concerns hold precedence over the concern of a COVID-19 outbreak in a school. When contacted for comment, Andrew Cluley, AAPS director of communications, directed The Michigan Daily to the AAPS COVID dashboard where AAPS highlights the metrics the district is looking for to bring students back. These metrics include 14 days of a downward trend in positive cases across the country, 7-20 new positive cases per million and less than 3% risk rate determined by the MI Safe Smart Map. The call to action says there needs to be a joint effort from the community and the school districts to ensure a safe school environment. “I hope to see them (schools) following COVID guidelines,” Verma said. “These are not normal times — we’re in the middle of a global pandemic. And we can’t act like we aren’t.” Contributor Shannon Stocking can be reached at sstockin@ umich.edu SHANNON STOCKING For The Daily AAPS, local health department call for schools to reopen safely Washtenaw County agency, school district sign letter asking to bring kids back STRIKE From Page 1