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Heritage
Foundation
Unions
Losing in Their Last Stronghold
By Amy Payne
December 11, 2012
This
is the week that Michigan’s workers will
finally be freed from forced unionization.
After
decades of United Auto Workers control over
the struggling American auto industry, the Michigan legislature’s
passing of a
right-to-work law is historic. Governor Rick Snyder (R) is expected to
sign the
law as early as tomorrow.
Regardless
of news reports, the people of
Michigan are behind this. A recent poll showed that 51 percent of
Michigan
voters support right-to-work. Only 41 percent are opposed. In fact, 40
percent
of union households supported it. In November, Michigan voters rejected
a
ballot proposal that would have amended the state constitution to
prevent the
legislature from passing a right-to-work law and elevated union
contracts above
state law. The New York Times called it “a test case on enshrining the
rights
of unions,” and unions spent more than $23 million campaigning for the
initiative.
It lost by 15 points.
They’re
still campaigning. Yesterday, President
Obama campaigned for the labor movement in Detroit by making false
claims about
the law:
What
we shouldn’t be doing is trying to take
away your rights to bargain for better wages and working conditions. We
shouldn’t be doing that. These so-called “right to work” laws, they
don’t have
to do with economics; they have everything to do with politics. What
they’re
really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money.
Those
are strong words. They would be even
stronger if they were true. As Heritage labor expert James Sherk
explains:
Right-to-work
laws prevent unions from imposing
mandatory fees, giving employees the right to work without paying union
dues.
Otherwise, right-to-work has no effect on collective bargaining. All
other
negotiations continue as before…
Read
the rest of the article at the Heritage
Foundation
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