Crain’s Detroit Business
Oct. 20, 2023
Crain’s Detroit Business editorial board
Four major Michigan business groups are pulling together to get the Legislature to tap the brakes on some major moves that would affect Michigan’s business competitiveness.
That’s a good thing, and not just because of the issues at hand.
As Crain’s senior reporter David Eggert reported earlier this month, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Michigan Manufacturers Association, the Detroit Regional Chamber, and the Grand Rapids Chamber have banded together to offer a unified voice to lawmakers on four specific issues.
Those include Democrat-led pushes for mandatory paid family and medical leave, a dramatic reworking of clean-energy requirements, a move to reclassify independent contractors, and a measure that would let municipalities set local minimum wages, benefit levels and other workplace rules.
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The various chambers working in concert to relay the legitimate concerns of their members to political power brokers isn’t something that always happens in Michigan. Each of the organizations has historically had its own political bent, and they haven’t always been on the same page.