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An Open Letter To The Michigan LGBT Community

With the recent decisions by several public employers in Michigan to take steps to rescind benefits for employees' domestic partners, many in our community are wondering what we can do to fight back against the drive by anti-gay bigots to make us disappear through anti-family and anti-worker legislation.
This is not the time for us to let apathy get the best of us. If you are a public employee who receives domestic partner benefits through a union contract, your time to speak up is now.
Unions are only as good as their members, and if there are no openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender members in the leadership positions of your union, you'd better believe that your benefits are in great peril.
As the Co-Presidents of the Michigan chapter of Pride @ Work, the national LGBT labor organization, we implore you to get involved in your union now, before your benefits become a thing of the past.
The ACLU, in cooperation with labor activists and leaders across the state, has created alternative language that can maintain the benefits that sustain our families, despite the anti-gay constitutional amendment that was passed in the 2004 election. However, that language won't help if LGBT workers don't speak up in their unions and fight for it.
We implore you, if you want to see your benefits continue, to get involved with your union. Become a shop steward. When your contract is up for renewal, get on the bargaining team, and make sure that your union leadership will insist on finding legal ways to maintain employer-funded benefits for LGBT workers and their families.
We understand that for those of you who have never been involved with your union, the whole process may seem strange and arcane. That is where we are here to help. We can talk you through the process, and coach you about how to become active to save your benefits. However, we can't save your benefits without you.
For that reason, we're happy to announce that the Pride at Work Michigan Chapter is establishing a Benefits Protection Task Force to help coach union members who want to fight effectively for their benefits through their union. We can coach you on how a negotiating team works, and we can work with you on alternative contract language that can help preserve your benefits.
That said, we can't do that with out you. If you'd like help, please contact Stephen Gilroy at HYPERLINK "mailto:[email protected]" [email protected] and we'll work with you to fight the good fight.
Inaction can be our downfall, but our collective action can be our saving grace.
{ITAL In Solidarity,
Cheryl Bollinger
Co-President
Steve Gilroy
Co-President}

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Topics: News
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