The legislation marks a
monumental shift away from union power to "open shop" free labor.
Right-to-work laws prohibit workers from being forced to contribute
mandatory dues to labor unions in order to gain employment, regardless
of whether or not they are members of a union, and prohibit employers
from firing workers if they don't join a union. With workers no longer
obligated to pay union dues, union membership, revenue, and strength
decline.
Predictably, there was no shortage of outrage from union workers this
week as they stormed the capital building in Lansing to protest.
Teachers walked out of schools and Democratic state senators even walked
out on the final vote to approve the initial bills. Union workers and
their Democratic allies realize that the transition from a "closed shop"
state to a right-to-work state is the second in near fatal blows to
Michigan's entrenched union interests.
The first blow came this past November when unions spent tens of
millions of dollars in Michigan pushing Proposal 2, a ballot initiative
that would have written collective bargaining into the state
constitution and in essence outlawed a right-to-work law and limits on
union power. Michigan voters defeated the proposal 58% to 42%.
Proposal 2 was defeated
because the unions had overreached their hand. Decades ago, unions were
important to workers because America's emerging labor markets were less
predictable and less safe. But much of the American public now realizes
that labor unions are no longer needed in the way they once were, and
they don't need to be enshrined in state constitutions.
What's more, many unions
have deviated from their original purpose and warped into powerful
special interests rather than true representatives of workers' rights.
There is a growing public
consensus, seen most recently in Wisconsin, Indiana and now Michigan,
that non-right-to-work states can stifle private labor competition and
give too much power, politically and financially, to the unions. What
right-to-work states have found is that, if given the choice, some, or
even many, workers will chose not to join the union. In other words,
many workers themselves no longer see the need for mandatory dues and
labor union representation. (Continues)
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