Right-to-work comes to Michigan

Michigan labor leaders say they thought they had a deal with Republican Gov. Rick Snyder to stall a right-to-work law there. But the governor responds that when the unions pushed this fall's ballot Proposal 2, which would have enshrined the union shop in the state constitution, the truce was over.

Proposal 2 seems to have been Big Labor's bridge too far. When voters trounced that measure in November, with 58 percent opposed, Republican legislators took it as a sign that the unions' 60-year dominance over Michigan politics was coming to an end. The GOP decided to strike a blow for workplace competitiveness while the iron was hot.

Tuesday, Gov. Snyder officially made the home of the auto industry America's 24th right-to-work state. Michigan workers, previously forced to join locals and pay dues as a condition of employment at union shops, now are free to refuse membership and keep their money and their jobs. Unions will have to convince workers membership is worthwhile.

Apparently not covered by the left's endless appeals for more civility in public discourse, union members did not accept the action with aplomb, as they heckled, shrieked and turned violent outside the state Capitol in Lansing.

"It's deja vu all over again for those of us who live in Wisconsin, as taxpayers foot the bills for riot police in Lansing and paid holidays for teachers so they can protest," commented Maureen Martin, a Wisconsin resident who saw similarly boorish union tactics in her state after collective bargaining reforms were passed there.

Unions have played a key role in Michigan's decades-long death spiral. "Even as their membership dwindled to a sliver of the workforce - 17 percent - their stifling influence over Lansing kept Michigan from adopting the common-sense reforms that would have made it more competitive for jobs and investment," Nolan Finley wrote in the Dec. 13 Detroit News.

For two years, Gov. Snyder has been trying to raise Michigan from the ruins, Mr. Finley notes, attempting to attract new businesses and bring public-sector pensions and benefits in line with their private-sector counterparts. "The unions have fought him every inch of the way."

Why did they lose? Michigan residents "have watched for decades as union intransigence drove jobs from this state and kept new jobs out," Mr. Finley reports. They've "sacrificed public safety and other services to pay for absurd public employee pensions that they'll never enjoy themselves." And voters saw through "the hysterical, false claims that this bill will destroy unions and end collective bargaining."

Nor does it necessarily follow that non-members will become "free riders" on unions that bargain on behalf of all a firm's employees. Under the Supreme Court's 1988 Beck decision, non-members can still be billed their full share of a union's bargaining expenses on their behalf.

If unions decline to do that, it might be interesting to ask why. Do they not want even their own members to see the small percentage of dues that actually go to collective bargaining for wages, benefits and work conditions?

Instead, America's unions in recent decades have diverted vast amounts of their income to promoting the social and economic agendas of the most radical wing of the Democratic party, regardless of the fact that many individual members do not embrace those agendas.

Unions do not just fade away in right-to-work states. Few would argue organizations such as the Culinary and the teachers unions retain no political clout in right-to-work Nevada.

Yes, American wages are generally lagging behind inflation. There are at least three reasons. First, persistent high unemployment means more applicants bidding for each job. Second, capitalism - capital investments in equipment and technology that increase the value of each worker's labor - is booming around the world, especially in Asia, while capitalism here in America is increasingly demonized and repressed by regulation, taxation and market distortions resulting from political meddling. The third reason for lagging wages is the left's opposition to the enforcement of immigration laws. A de facto amnesty for millions of blue-collar illegal immigrant workers accustomed to a lower standard of living can't help but hold down wages. Where do the unions stand on that?

"Monopoly power created by union shops where workers must pay union dues or lose their jobs has caused long-term injury to industry in Michigan, resulting in high unemployment and a growing underclass leading to social deterioration," notes Paul Fisher of the Heartland Institute.

Yes, competing for dollars is tough when you've been used to the benefits of government coersion. But competition is the American way.