When future histories about Michigan’s right-to-work law are authored, there will no-doubt be much ink spilled on the role played by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and others. The Center’s scholars have been talking and writing about right-to-work practically since we opened our doors 25 years ago.
Oh, how well I remember this piece in the Detroit Free Press from almost 20 years ago! Better yet, I remember the reaction to it: A scattering of lukewarm encouragement on the order of “good luck on that one” and “someday maybe, but not in my lifetime” and a whole lot of “no way, never” with some unrepeatable epithets tossed in to underscore the point.
Over at Michigan Radio, Rick Pluta makes an interesting observation: “The fact is union membership has typically dropped off in the other 23 states that have adopted ‘right-to-work’ laws.”
The fact that unionization is down is true. But adopting a RTW law, counterintuitively, does not seem to impact the rates of unionization. Unionization across the country is down, and there seem to be no difference in these trends between right-to-work and non-right-to-work states.
As Michael LaFaive, director of the Center’s Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, pointed out in this blog post, the Center has a long history of support for right-to-work policies that stretches back more than two decades. In researching that history, LaFaive found an interesting coincidence.
About 26,000 students in metro Detroit will miss school today because their teachers chose to travel to Lansing to protest right-to-work legislation, Michigan Capitol Confidential reports.
Many opponents of a Michigan right-to-work law cite figures generated by a union-funded entity called the “Economic Policy Institute.”
EPI President Lawrence Mishel is a "longtime member of the Democratic Socialists of America," according to an article posted on that organization’s website (go to page 15).
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio was on Fox News Sunday and on CNN today discussing Michigan’s progress toward passing a right-to-work law.
President Obama last week spoke out against the effort in Lansing to pass a right-to-work law and is expected to reiterate his opposition to worker freedom today in a previously scheduled visit to Detroit.
"The President believes our economy is stronger when workers get good wages and good benefits, and he opposes attempts to roll back their rights,” said a White House spokesman. “Michigan — and its workers' role in the revival of the US automobile industry — is a prime example of how unions have helped build a strong middle class and a strong American economy."
The owners of the Detroit Red Wings are looking to building a new $650-million entertainment district for the team in downtown Detroit with the help of state and local taxpayers.
The plan is in its early stages and details are scarce, but the overwhelming economic consensus is that subsidized stadiums are huge losers for taxpayers.
An amusing asymmetry in historical studies occurred with the November publications of “The Iron Curtain” by historian Anne Applebaum and “The Untold History of the United States” and its companion eight-part miniseries by historian Peter Kuznick and Oscar-winning director and screenwriter Oliver Stone — amusing because the former is a diligently researched work by a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian while the latter is a revisionist fever dream by the loudest, most paranoid customer in Hollywood’s head shop.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio today in The Bay City Times explains what a right-to-work law can accomplish.
“It’s historic,” he said. “For the last 25 years, the Mackinac Center has said right-to-work is right for Michigan. It’s a huge policy that gives workers freedom.
Several school superintendents are suggesting that proposed education reform legislation would lead to segregation in Michigan schools.
In a column titled "A dagger aimed at the heart of public education," Bloomfield Hills Superintendent Rob Glass writes that House Bill 5923, which would allow for new forms of charter public schools, including selective schools, "...will likely lead to greater segregation in our public schools."
As Michigan gets closer to becoming a right-to-work state, the focus often is on economics. There are plenty of reasons to support worker freedom based on that alone, but we should always remember the most important aspect: Allowing members the choice of whether to financially support a political organization is a moral one.
House Bill 4054, Make Michigan a "right-to-work" state: Passed 58 to 52 in the House
To prohibit employers from enforcing a union contract provision that compels employees to join or financially support a union as a condition of employment. The bill also includes a $1 million appropriation to make it "referendum-proof." All Democrats voted "no" and all Republicans voted "yes" except for Reps. Forlini, Goike, Horn, McBroom, Somerville and Zorn.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio told CNN today that a right-to-work law, “simply gives workers the freedom to choose whether or not to pay a union.”
Vernuccio also pointed out that right-to-work laws have no impact on collective bargaining “except for taking away the union’s ability to get a worker fired for not paying them.”
The Michigan House and Senate passed right-to-work bills tonight aimed at preventing workers from having to financially support a union as a condition of employment.
House Bill 4054 passed 58-42 and Senate Bill 116 passed 22-16.
Earlier in the day, Gov. Rick Snyder said he would sign the bills when they get to his desk, which could be Tuesday.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio writes in a USA Today Op-Ed that was recently posted that a right-to-work law in Michigan will “be a sign to businesses that organized labor no longer calls the shots” here and will help Michigan’s slowly recovering economy get back on track more quickly.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio was cited in The Wall Street Journal today about the introduction of right-to-work legislation in Lansing.
"Right-to-work is a big sign that Michigan is open for business," he said.
The Royal Oak Daily Tribune, Macomb Daily and Oakland Press also cited Vernuccio in stories today about Gov. Rick Snyder calling for the Michigan Legislature to pass a right-to-work bill.
In two previous posts here I shared segments of a 1999 video shot at United Auto Workers Local 699 in Saginaw that shows speakers discussing union politicking and ugly threats of violence over a work slowdown. With a possible Michigan right-to-work law in the news, it’s worth examining a third clip from the same video and address an alleged “free rider” problem it raises
The Wall Street Journal in an editorial cites Mackinac Center research showing that Michigan has lost more than 7,000 jobs since neighboring Indiana became a right-to-work state. The Hoosier State, however, has added more than 43,000 jobs during the same time.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio is cited in Reuters and appeared on “The Willis Report” on Fox Business to discuss the benefits Michigan would accrue from becoming a right-to-work state.
Vernuccio told Reuters that Michigan has already been impacted by Indiana passing a right-to-work law earlier this year. The Hoosier state has added 43,300 jobs, while Michigan lost 7,300. He specifically points to Caterpillar’s decision to move its London, Ontario, plant to Muncie, Ind., which was announced shortly after Indiana passed its worker freedom bill.
Last week, I wrote a blog post (”MEA Misleads on Oklahoma Right-to-Work Numbers”) about Michigan’s largest labor union claiming that since Oklahoma became a right-to-work state in 2001, “10 years later, jobs fell by 25 percent and the number of companies moving there dropped by 33 percent.” As I pointed out, this is false: Jobs in Oklahoma are up 3.8 percent since 2001 while Michigan, on the other hand, lost 13.8 percent of its jobs during the same time, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Though Michigan public school teachers receive generous protections against termination, they can be quickly fired for not paying union dues.
Just this year, Kalamazoo Public Schools fired a teacher — not for poor performance or for inappropriate conduct — but because she didn't pay her union $411.25.
From today’s Michigan Information & Research Service (subscription required):
That may be understating the possible decline. When Wisconsin reforms ended forced dues payments for school and government employees, membership in teachers unions fell 30 percent according to union sources, and reportedly by more than half in some other government unions.
Even though a bill has yet to surface, legislators Tuesday were getting an earful from supporters and opponents of making Michigan a right-to-work state. The voices came from Tea Party members, small business owners and union members. Americans for Prosperity-Michigan set up an information tent in front of the Capitol and Union Conservatives brought in several members.
