LANSING, Mich. — Governor Whitmer signed a package of bills Friday that undoes “right-to-work.”
Michigan is the first state ever to pass and then repeal a "right-to-work" law.
“Really this was about who has to pay union dues and not," says Seidman College of Business Associate Dean Dr. Paul Isely.
On Friday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a package of three bills, repealing Michigan's “right-to-work” law — after it was first signed into state law a decade ago in 2013.
READ MORE: Michigan 1st state in decades to repeal 'right-to-work' law
"And so the repeal of right-to-work says that if you are benefiting from a union, you should be contributing to that union."
A Republican-led Legislature originally passed the law, saying it would drive business in the state.
"Having right-to-work is always thought of as making it easier for economic developers to convince businesses to come to a location," says Dr. Isely.
But Democrats argue that repealing it helps the workforce, saying if workers benefit from union efforts, they should have to pay union fees.
"And so the thought process is that not having right-to-work, as we now have, is beneficial towards unions and makes it easier to negotiate better salaries."
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics union membership in Michigan sat at 16.6 percent in 2012. In 2022 that number was down to about 14 percent of all working Michiganders.
"We didn't see a major change in unionization here in the state,” says Dr. Isely. “And we didn't see many people. In fact, it was two or three out of every 100 who decided to stop paying dues. We didn't see people in mass decide to stop paying dues to their unions."
But what effect will repealing it have here in Michigan? We are the first U.S. state to enact right-to-work and then get rid of it entirely.
"If it's a good signal, then businesses will want to be here and workers will be empowered and things will happen,” Dr. Isely explains. “If it's a bad signal, then businesses won't want to be here. And unions will have a harder time."
Governor Whitmer signed the bills Friday but they won't go into effect until 2024 because the bills did not pass with enough support in the Legislature to go into effect immediately.
"If you're really for right-to-work or really against right-to-work, understand that the data says the effects that you're going to see here today, and in the next two or three years, are going to be small enough that your world's not going to be devastated one way or another."
As part of that package of bills the governor signed Friday, prevailing wage for state contractors was also reinstated. That means that any workers on projects like road construction must be paid similarly to workers in the same occupation.
