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The SEIU front group Fast Food Forward is holding its second “strike” in New York City. The strikers marching under the banner of this “workers center” — see our previous coverage of these unions-in-sheep’s-clothing here — chose to walk out today because 45 years ago, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed in Memphis.

And it is in the second item that labor reveals the second half of the pincer in its “new labor” model. We noted last year that labor unions were preparing a campaign to try to define union organizing as a “civil right.” The American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is also marking this anniversary to unjustly link modern unions with a source of moral authority. The Fast Food Forward organizers additionally found veterans of the civil rights movement to give speeches and consult with the unionization supporters.

But like the misleadingly named Employee Free Choice Act that would have effectively killed union members’ secret ballot, declaring a “civil right to collective bargaining” is another way for unions to curtail employee rights. Rather than adopting reforms supported by wide margins of union households (like those in the Employee Rights Act), labor unions hope that the courts can use legal blunt instruments to force more employees to pay union dues they would rather not pay.

Where they’ve been asked to weigh in, employees see through the smokescreen of undeserved moral authority. In the labor stronghold of Michigan, the notion failed when it was put to a vote. Indeed, labor’s overplaying its hand there probably helped lead to the granting of full free association rights to Michigan employees under the state’s new right-to-work law.

Yesterday, Michigan’s right-to-work law, which bans forced dues arrangements that lock non-members into funding a union they aren’t part of, took effect. New contracts will no longer require employees to pay a union they may never have had the chance to even vote on or be fired. As a Detroit News op-ed observed:

Workers will have a choice in union membership and labor unions will have to do what every other voluntary organization has to do: Earn their membership by service and not outdated work rules that force membership. […] If labor unions can evolve into service-centered organizations that compete for membership in this new labor environment they will survive and prosper. If not, they do not deserve government protection any more than any other outdated monopoly.

Unions tried to pull out all the stops to prevent these employee freedoms, including a preemptive ballot measure that would have enshrined the right to “collective bargaining” (translation: unions’ rights to collect forced dues) in the Michigan Constitution. They’re not giving up their chokehold on employees’ paychecks easily. Ten-year contracts, publicizing lists of employees who exercise their opt-out rights, and new ballot measure campaigns are all reportedly on Michigan unions’ table.   The Associated Press reports:

Multiple lawsuits have been filed to strike down the law. Legal challenges in neighboring Indiana have been unsuccessful. [Michigan Gov. Rick] Snyder said Thursday that right-to-work is “done” and “over with.” […]The law cannot be overturned directly in a referendum, yet unions could decide to back a 2014 ballot measure that effectively overturns it. The law’s backers expect that a ballot initiative is coming to coincide with the re-election bids of Snyder and GOP legislators next year.

Unions can rage against the decline of their movement all they like, but until they acknowledge the need for labor reform that’s not about dodging the rules (see the great “workers centers” rebranding and loophole-creation effort), that decline will continue. The proposals in the Employee Rights Act are supported by roughly 80 percent of union households. Maybe if unions endorsed them, more employees might find this real “new labor” worth joining.

The end of the Michigan legislative session looks like it will be anything but “lame.” Republicans, including Governor Rick Snyder, have come out in support of “freedom to work” legislation that they hope will pass before the end of the year. The legislation will give all employees the right to work without having to pay any union dues or agency fees, although the law will not affect police or fire unions. The private sector law passed the House this afternoon

The 23^rd right-to-work state just came on board in February, when Indiana joined the club. Despite some attempts by labor to stop it, right to work appears to be sticking around. At that time, it seemed like New Hampshire or Rhode Island would be the next states to pass labor reforms, but Ohio stumbled and labor turned its attention to the November elections.

It was in Michigan that labor suffered perhaps its most stunning defeat with Proposal 2, the ill-fated ballot measure pushed by labor that would have enshrined the right of collective bargaining in the state constitution. Michigan voters recognized the problems with the amendment and soundly rejected it.

On Fox Business Channel on Wednesday, Vincent Vernuccio (who was featured here in October) explained what right to work is all about and what the situation is in Michigan:

As Vernuccio explains, Indiana is already seeing the positive effects of instituting right to work. It is often a draw for businesses.

The Buckeye Institute explains that this has been a long-standing trend:

The latest numbers, from our October report, show that nearly 12.5 million private sector jobs have been created since January of 1990 in Right to Work states vs. a little under 8 million in the Forced Union states.  That equates to a 37 percent increase in RTW states vs. 14 percent in non-RTW states.

Similar studies come to the same result: Right to work helps employees and states prosper.