(DIMONDALE) – The state broke ground Friday on a public health and environmental science laboratory that will be shared among the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) and the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity (LEO).

Legislative office employees at the Michigan House are currently engaged in an organizing campaign with Teamsters Local 243, the union said Monday, confirming a report MIRS published earlier in the month.

Some House staffers working under the purview of House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) have begun taking cards from employees interested in holding an election on whether to be represented by a Teamsters local, multiple sources have told MIRS.

The Governor’s directive that prohibited the state from contracting with companies that don’t pay their workers union rates stands after a ruling from the Michigan Court of Appeals, that said the issue wasn't moot despite the Legislature reinstating prevailing wage.

The Senate Labor Committee approved legislation Thursday permitting local governments to set minimum wage rates and benefit mandates higher than the statewide standard, undoing an 8-year-old Snyder-era preemption nicknamed the "Death Star" law.