Op/Ed: Michigan Becomes the First State in Decades to Repeal "Right to Work" Law
Our members have opinions about labor issues! Our Op/Ed series gives a voice to these. In this installment, Lecturer Matt McManus writes about the repeal of Michigan’s “Right to Work” law.
Matt McManus
Ann Arbor | Political Science | Lecturer I
2022 was a banner year for American unions and the labor movement as a whole. Big companies like Starbucks and Amazon saw major drives by workers to unionize, and the total number of employees in unions increased (incrementally, but a win is a win) after falling for decades. Unfortunately the percentage of total workers in unions also fell, which shows we have a long way to go.
The landscape for unions is very different from what it was even in the 1980s, when over 20 percent of wage and salary workers were unionized. This transition has been driven by a wide variety of factors: the political shift to the right under the Reagan-Bush administrations, globalization, and changing corporate structures. But a major contributor was the widespread introduction of union-busting laws at the state level; most notoriously “right to work” legislation which allowed workers to receive the benefits of being part of a union without paying dues. This was exacerbated by the recent Janus v. AFSCME decision handed down by the Supreme Court in 2018, which held that public sector unions requiring non-members pay some fees to retain benefits violated their First Amendment rights. In his book Supreme Inequality the journalist and Harvard Law grad Adam Cohen noted the enormous impact this had, as “4.8 million workers were instantly given the right to not pay at all for the union representation they received.” Proponents argued that these legislative and legal changes expanded worker freedoms and increased flexibility. Critics noted that they intentionally created “free rider” problems that undermined solidarity and depleted union coffers, leading to a downwards cycle of declining bargaining power contributing to waning support. Until recently at least.
In 2012 Michigan’s Republican governor and state legislature introduced private sector “right to work” laws under the auspices of securing “worker freedom.” These were controversial at the time, but nevertheless secured enough support from GOP legislators to become the law of the land through the 2010s. Unsurprisingly union membership fell over the decade the laws were in place. But nothing lasts forever in politics except politics itself, and several days ago Lansing voted to repeal Governor Synder’s right to work laws. On Friday, March 24th Governor Whitmer signed off on the repeal, leading to a new paradigm shift in Michigan’s labor relations.
The repeal of Michigan’s right to work laws is historic. The Great Lakes state is the first in 58 years to repeal such laws; maybe setting a national precedent going forward? This paradigm shift-was accomplished by a combination of shifting political fortunes helping elect labor-friendly politicians and above all intense efforts by grassroots activists and ordinary people. The repeal won't directly impact LEO members, who as public sector employees must abide by the Janus decision. Nevertheless it is a positive sign for a number of reasons.
Firstly, it demonstrates that the current administration is consciously adopting a more union-friendly stance; a welcome change from the overt hostility demonstrated under Governor Snyder’s tenure. Secondly, increasing union density and power in the state of Michigan may well benefit LEO through establishing a more solidaristic atmosphere and engendering public support for collective bargaining and activism. Thirdly, it hopefully represents an intellectual and legal shift away from regulatory efforts to kneecap unions by underfunding them. Given the vital and long undervalued role of unions in securing benefits for workers and the general public, they need resources to do their job properly. While the recent repeal doesn’t change everything, it changes enough. Which is as good a start as any.