Michigan’s right-to-work law may be celebrating its last anniversary. Ten years ago on Dec. 11, the Great Lakes State gave workers the freedom to choose whether to join a union—a bold move in the historic heartland of organized labor. The law greatly contributed to Michigan’s comeback, leading to higher incomes, lower poverty, a higher share of manufacturing jobs. It even induced unions to provide better service to their members. Now Michigan’s leaders may throw away this progress for no other reason than political payback.
How can a law that has delivered so much be so close to repeal? On Nov. 8, Democrats gained complete control of state government for the first time in 40 years. Gov.
Gretchen Whitmer
won re-election and Democrats took majorities in both chambers of the Legislature. The state Senate hasn’t been held by Democrats since
Ronald Reagan’s
first term.
Repealing right to work is one of Democrats’ top priorities in the new legislative session starting in January. The incoming House majority floor leader, Rep.
Abraham Aiyash,
responded “absolutely” when asked if repeal was on the docket.
Dayna Polehanki,
the incoming Senate majority caucus chairman, declared: “Get ready for some cha-cha-cha-changes here in Michigan . . . union-busting ‘right-to-work’ is gonna go bye-bye.”
Most notably, Ms. Whitmer has stated that she is “very interested” in repealing right to work and that “no one should be surprised” by her position. No surprise indeed: Unions donated almost $2 million to her campaign, along with millions more to the Michigan Democratic Party.
So why do unions want repeal? Money. About 20% of Michigan private sector union members have left their unions since right-to-work went into effect, including over 7% of United Auto Workers members and 65% of Service Employees International Union members. That’s not even counting the workers who never joined a union because right to work gave them that option.
This exodus deprives unions of millions of dollars in dues, much of which goes toward political donations that overwhelmingly benefit Democrats. Repealing right to work would force tens of thousands of workers to pay unions again just to keep their jobs. The unions, in turn, will have even…
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