Mackinac Center Director of Labor Policy F. Vincent Vernuccio testified today before the West Virginia Legislature about how right-to-work laws can benefits states. West Virginia is expected to pass a right-to-work law soon, giving workers the freedom to hold a job without joining a union.

Vernuccio pointed to the successes experienced in other states that have adopted right-to-work legislation in recent years, something he discussed earlier this week in an op-ed published by the Charleston Gazette-Mail, co-authored by Michigan Capitol Confidential reporter Jason Hart.

From 2012, the year Michigan passed right-to-work, until mid-2015, incomes in Michigan rose over nine percent faster than West Virginia and the national average,” Vernuccio and Hart wrote. “From 2012-14, average hourly wages increased by 56 cents to $19.94 in Indiana, by 56 cents to $21.70 in Michigan, but only by 37 cents to $18.21 in West Virginia.

Vernuccio was joined at the West Virginia House of Delegates by Terry Bowman, a former UAW member and current president of Union Conservatives, who also encouraged the Legislature to support the legislation.

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