LANSING – Critics have said Governor Rick Snyder undermined his trustworthiness when he agreed to support making Michigan a right-to-work state after nearly two years of disdaining the proposal as not on his agenda, but Snyder disputed such accusations Monday.

“Trust is a perception. I think, factually, I was fairly clear this whole process,” he said in an interview with Gongwer News Service.

“In its very earliest days, I think from a policy perspective, I always thought, if you gave me a choice between right-to-work and not right-to-work, I was into freedom to choose,” he said. “But I thought it was too divisive, particularly given the fact it accounted for a minority percentage of the jobs in our state and there are higher priorities, so that’s why I said it was not on my agenda. I never said I didn’t have an opinion or view on that. I said there are other priorities to work on.”

Snyder said he tried to get organized labor to back off its Proposal 12-2 to enshrine collective bargaining rights in the Constitution, warning them that if they fail, it would bring right-to-work to the fore and possibly result in a petition drive.

The governor said he understands “people have hard feelings.” But he said he tried to move the discussion in a different direction that could satisfy all sides. As Gongwer News Service first reported November 30, Snyder in negotiations with labor leaders tried to see if labor would agree to other bills they usually would dislike as a way to shelve right-to-work. Those talks failed.

“When it was starting to get heated and people thought bills were going to move forward, I asked people to even pause that and do these discussions,” he said. “I thought I worked very diligently to try to moderate and mediate this whole situation, but once it was clear that there wasn’t a resolution, that this was going to continue on for some time … that it was better to say okay, now that it’s here, I’m going to take a position and get it resolved.”

Snyder urged Democrats to reconsider their comments about refusing to support any legislation in retaliation for right-to-work. That stance appeared to weaken somewhat after some Democrats voted for the Detroit lighting legislation as well as a bill opening up some public funding to support a new arena for the Detroit Red Wings.

“I think that’s a disservice to their customer,” he said of opposing all bills. “We have a common customer here, the citizens of Michigan. Whether you like someone or not, you should do the right thing to get to the right resolution if it’s in the best interest of your customer.”

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