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 23rd 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.
