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MiMfg Magazine
October 2018
Center, you’ll be able to locate websites, policy
positions, mailing addresses and more for your
state senators and representatives.
Searching for election help on the national or
international scale? The National Association
of Manufacturers has all the resources your
business needs for issues and connections
outside of the Great Lakes State. Go to
www.nam.org to get started.
Networking with Legislative
Leaders, Issue Experts & Peers
It’s not enough to know the candidates and the
issues; an informed manufacturing voter builds
relationships to ensure your elected officials hear the
voices of manufacturers in their district.
Throughout the summer and fall, MMA hosted
events across Michigan to help connect manufacturers
with elected officials, inform them of issues on the
horizon, and provide valuable peer-to-peer networking.
MMA Ballots & Brews
With Election Day only weeks away, MMA
brought the issues of top priority to regional events
Local manufacturing leaders gathered at Founders Brewery
in Grand Rapids to learn about the upcoming election and
hear from Founders’ Brad Stevenson and Tony Barnes.
across the state. Recognizing the growth of Michigan’s
beer and wine manufacturing sector, MMA hosted
the Ballots & Brews regional meeting series at many
local breweries — including Founders in Grand
Rapids, Frankenmuth Brewery, an Upper Peninsula
tour and Atwater Brewery in Detroit.
Every event included the chance to network
with fellow manufacturers, hear tales from the shop
floor, get a deep dive into ballot initiatives and other
issues ready to impact the industry, and get new
information on strategies to solve your company’s
most complex challenges.
Legislature Hears from Manufacturers, Adopts Paid Sick Leave Ballot Proposal
MMA applauded the efforts of Michigan’s Legislature
in adopting the ballot proposal on paid leave on
9/5/18. The ballot proposal would mandate all
employers (except the federal government) provide
employees with 72 hours of paid sick time —
employees of small manufacturers (fewer than 10
employees) would be required to provide 40 hours
of paid and 32 hours of unpaid leave. This employer
mandate would be the most onerous and restrictive
paid leave proposal in the country. “We are grateful to the Legislature for taking action
on issues impacting jobs and the competitiveness of
Michigan’s business climate,” said Mike Johnston,
MMA’s vice president of government affairs. “As with
all other laws pertaining to business, it is important
to keep policymaking within the hands of the
policymakers. If there are provisions in these
proposals that would harm or reverse Michigan’s
economic comeback, the legislature needs to
address these issues.”
The effort to adopt the ballot proposal received
bipartisan support in both the House and Senate
and will avoid placement on the ballot this November. Had the proposal reached the November ballot and
been successful, it would have created significant
legal battles between employees and employers
and damaged Michigan’s business climate, all while
leaving the Legislature with little recourse to amend.
“The Michigan Legislature put jobs and families
first,” said Chuck Hadden, MMA president & CEO.
“By returning the authority to protect Michigan
competitiveness to the legislators, the state is in a
better position to design an economic plan for growth.”
The MMA joined the Small Business for a Better
Michigan coalition, an organization of state job
providers that seeks to educate voters about the
danger of business policy being dictated by out of
state groups and special interests.
“We applaud the legislature for performing its
constitutional duty to ensure critical issues like this
are properly evaluated for the betterment of
Michigan’s economy,” said Johnston.
See mimfg.org (search “paid leave”) to learn
more about this hard-fought battle.