Michigan could become first state in nearly 60 years to ditch ‘right-to-work’ law
LANSING, Michigan — A struggle brewing over the way forward for Michigan’s “right-to-work” legislation is drawing nationwide consideration as Democratic lawmakers in Lansing eye repealing the legislation Republicans handed simply over a decade in the past permitting employees in unionized jobs to choose out of paying union dues and charges.
When Republican lawmakers made Michigan a “right-to-work” state in 2012, 1000’s of protesters massed on the Capitol whereas police on horseback and in riot gear tried to manage the scuffles that broke out.
Michigan was not the primary state to enact right-to-work. However it’s a state steeped in labor historical past now poised to turn out to be the primary state in practically 60 years to ditch such a legislation, with Democrats controlling the chief and legislative branches of state authorities for the primary time in 4 a long time.
“Michigan must be first,” mentioned Jennifer Root, the chief director of SEIU (Service Workers Worldwide Union) Michigan, which represents practically 30,000 private and non-private sector employees. “Michigan and unions on this state constructed the center class on this nation. There is no cause we will not do it once more.”
Others are pushing again, and never simply in Michigan. “Are we going to struggle them? You betcha, we will struggle,” mentioned Mark Combine, president of the Nationwide Proper to Work Committee, primarily based in Virginia. “I feel it’ll be a giant one.”
Employees ought to be capable to select whether or not a part of their pay goes to help a union, argue those that defend right-to-work legal guidelines. However opponents say all workers profit from the contracts unions negotiate, so there must be no “free riders” who get pleasure from the advantages with out contributing to the associated fee.
Democratic leaders haven’t mentioned how shortly they plan to vote on the difficulty, however payments to repeal right-to-work, with Democratic sponsors from each chambers, have been among the many first introduced when the brand new legislative session started Wednesday. Republicans, in the meantime, have warned that kicking off the session with repealing right-to-work may threaten bipartisan cooperation on future points.
Planning conferences to guard the legislation have already begun amongst Michigan teams that embody the Michigan Freedom Fund, which is backed by the rich DeVos household, and Michigan chapters of People for Prosperity, the Nationwide Federation of Impartial Enterprise, and Related Builders and Contractors, mentioned Jimmy Greene, president of ABC of Michigan, who attended a method assembly final week.
Earlier than the Home and Senate convened Wednesday for the primary time in 2023, the conservative Mackinac Heart for Public Coverage had already erected billboards close to Detroit, Lansing, Flint and Grand Rapids and launched radio and digital adverts and a web site touting right-to-work as a boon for Michigan employees.
“Proper-to-work saves Michigan employees hundreds of thousands of {dollars} yearly,” reads one of many billboards in Detroit.
Union leaders say that message is fake and will not go unanswered. They hope their numbers could make up for what they see as a monetary mismatch in getting their message out.
Ron Bieber, president of the Michigan AFL-CIO, described right-to-work as an uncalled-for assault on working women and men. “We hope to work with Gov. (Gretchen) Whitmer and the Democratic Legislature to revive the steadiness of energy, degree the enjoying subject, and as soon as once more give Michigan’s working households a good shot at an opportunity for a good life,” Bieber mentioned in a press release.
The affect of right-to-work
Unionization charges in Michigan fell earlier than GOP lawmakers made it a right-to-work state. However the share of Michigan employees who’re union members has continued to say no since then. Immediately, tens of 1000’s of employees protected by union agreements do not present any monetary help to the union.
Union membership, in gradual decline for many years, took an identical dip in Michigan within the 10 years earlier than the passage of right-to-work, having stood at simply over 21% in 2002, in accordance with federal knowledge compiled by researchers out there at unionstats.com. In 2012, practically 17% of Michigan employees have been union members. By 2021, the latest yr for which knowledge is on the market, that share stood at simply over 13%.
Additionally in 2021, greater than 80,000 Michigan employees coated by a collective bargaining settlement weren’t dues-paying union members, together with practically 46,000 within the personal sector.
It is the personal sector numbers which might be related if Michigan’s right-to-work legislation is repealed. That is due to a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court docket determination barring public sector unions from requiring workers coated by collective bargaining agreements to pay dues. Any repeal would solely have an effect on Michigan employees within the personal sector, the place barely greater than 9% have been union members in 2021, in contrast with simply over 11% in 2012.
UAW President Ray Curry known as the passage of right-to-work in Michigan a “travesty” throughout a current occasion with political and business leaders celebrating the newest investments in Michigan’s rising electrical automobile manufacturing. Curry mentioned that right-to-work in Michigan didn’t result in a surge in employees coated by UAW contracts leaving the union, even amid a corruption scandal that led to jail phrases for 2 former UAW presidents and different union officers. Different unions report a decline in membership underneath right-to-work in Michigan. Labor leaders blame the legislation for eroding employees’ rights and stagnant wages.
Whereas most Michigan workers don’t maintain jobs at workplaces coated by collective bargaining agreements, labor advocates argue {that a} rising tide lifts all boats: Repealing right-to-work would strengthen unions, which forces employers throughout the board to maintain tempo with greater wages and higher advantages that unions are in a position to safe throughout bargaining.
Amanda Fisher, state director of NFIB Michigan, which lobbies for small companies in Michigan, mentioned most employers, particularly small ones, don’t desire or want a union performing as an middleman between them and their workers. At workplaces that do have unions, right-to-work helps guarantee unions are extra aware of employees’ wants, as a result of if union leaders should not efficient, members can cease paying their dues, Fisher mentioned. “Office freedom is simply higher for everyone.”
Proper-to-work proponents additionally see the legislation as key to attracting companies to find in Michigan. However evaluating Michigan’s efficiency in attracting new manufacturing business earlier than and after the passage of right-to-work is fraught with issues such because the nationwide recession that gripped not simply Michigan however the whole nation for a lot of the decade earlier than 2010 and the cost by states of huge tax incentives that financial improvement administrators ceaselessly cite as a key part in touchdown new industries. Combine says Michigan over the past decade has accomplished considerably higher than non-right-to-work states, on common, in attracting new manufacturing jobs. But a state corresponding to Washington, which has no right-to-work legislation, has traditionally seen a powerful manufacturing sector, together with excessive wages.
For each side, the struggle over repealing right-to-work in Michigan would partly be about sending a message in a rustic that’s cut up over the difficulty, with 27 out of fifty states having such a legislation in place.
Indiana was the final state to repeal a right-to-work legislation. It repealed its 1957 legislation in 1965, however then went on to cross a brand new right-to-work legislation in 2012, which stays in place.
Company pursuits opposing the repeal “do not need to give an inch, as a result of they perceive that when it is accomplished in Michigan, it could possibly occur elsewhere,” mentioned Root, of the SEIU.
Wendy Block, vp of enterprise advocacy and member engagement on the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, mentioned defending right-to-work is a prime precedence for her group, seen as Michigan’s strongest enterprise foyer.
“Plainly all eyes are on Michigan and seeking to see what is going to occur,” Block mentioned. “I am not so certain that if Michigan goes (with a repeal), different states will comply with swimsuit. I feel actually different states will attempt to pounce on the chance that they may should lure jobs and new financial improvement initiatives away from Michigan and into their states.”
Block mentioned she’s not satisfied Democrats have the votes to cross the measure and they might be higher off tackling priorities with bipartisan help, which she mentioned embody increasing the Earned Revenue Tax Credit score and growing reasonably priced baby care, housing, and transportation.
Union leaders, in the meantime, hope repealing right-to-work is the start of a shift in labor coverage in Michigan. “For us, repealing right-to-work is the ground, not the ceiling,” Root mentioned.
A query of timing
It is unclear how shortly Democrats will attempt to sort out the contentious concern. Some lawmakers and union leaders say sending the repeal to Whitmer must be at or close to the highest of a decades-long record of pent-up priorities. Others see advantages to taking a slower method in a Legislature the place Democrats maintain the slimmest of majorities — 56-54 within the Home and 20-18 within the Senate. These slim majorities imply any change to the legislation wouldn’t take impact till early subsequent yr.
Democratic lawmakers unanimously opposed the legislation when it was rammed by means of the Legislature in December 2012. Greater than a decade later, Democratic legislators empowered by their new majorities in Lansing face a brand new query: Will they align as soon as once more to repeal right-to-work?
No Democrat has publicly mentioned they’d vote no on a repeal. It is also doable some Republicans may help a repeal. In 2012, 10 GOP lawmakers — six within the Home and 4 within the Senate — voted no.
State Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, was among the many Republicans who voted towards right-to-work, partially, as a result of he noticed the power of employees who do not pay union dues to nonetheless profit from union protections as unfair. However he would not essentially favor a simple repeal of the coverage.
“I did not like what was provided in 2012, and I do not like going again to what we had in 2012,” he mentioned. “I hope to have the ability to supply some alternatives for compromise if the invoice does come ahead and see if there’s room for simply really reforming issues as an alternative of simply burning down the established order each time.”
Newly elected state Rep. Joey Andrews, D-St. Joseph, who beforehand labored as a coverage analyst for the Michigan AFL-CIO, mentioned he would not have the sense that Democrats are “something apart from unified” on repealing the measure. “I do not get the sense that anyone’s bought chilly ft about it,” he mentioned. “I imply everyone knows it’s going to set off a struggle with sure enterprise and company curiosity teams, however what else is new?”
He needs Democrats to grab what he sees as a historic alternative. He known as right-to-work an “anomaly” towards the backdrop of Michigan’s labor historical past.
Per week earlier than lawmakers kicked off the legislative session, state Rep. Rachel Hood, D-Grand Rapids, forged doubt on Democratic help for repealing right-to-work in a Legislature the place her social gathering holds slim two-seat majorities in each chambers. “Take into consideration how disastrous if it got here to the ground and it didn’t cross?” she mentioned. “We’d like to ensure now we have the votes. Can we try this on day one? That’s a query that I do not assume anyone has answered.” She instructed it might be sensible for Democrats to attend to take motion on the difficulty.
She mentioned it will likely be essential for the Democratic caucus to empower new members who hail from districts dwelling to average voters to confidently reply to indignant constituents.
Some Democratic lawmakers from aggressive districts say they already made their help for the change identified on the marketing campaign path.
State Rep. Jenn Hill, D-Marquette, stood outdoors the Capitol in 2012 to protest right-to-work. “I completely made certain people knew that once I was campaigning,” she mentioned. Whereas knocking on doorways, she mentioned she heard from residents that repealing the legislation was essential to them.
Any laws to repeal right-to-work would ultimately land on Whitmer’s desk. Whitmer didn’t embody repealing right-to-work among the many priorities she highlighted in her second inaugural handle on the state of the Capitol on Jan. 1.
However Whitmer was a frontrunner of the struggle towards the laws in 2012, as Senate minority chief. She has mentioned that Michiganders shouldn’t have any doubt the place she stands on signing a repeal.
Free Press employees author Dave Boucher contributed to this report.
Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Observe him on Twitter @paulegan4.
This text initially appeared on USA TODAY: Historic struggle brewing over repeal of Michigan’s ‘right-to-work’ legislation
