Contentious and long-awaited bills that repeal Michigan’s “right-to-work” law and restore the state’s prevailing wage policy will get their first hearing in the House Labor Committee Wednesday. Then, chair Rep. Jim Haadsma, D-Battle Creek said he expects the bills to be approved and passed by Michigan’s House in the hours that follow.
“I don’t know if this is the fastest track ever. But I was certainly here in 2012 and we’re going to afford more process than was extended by Republican predecessors to my predecessor Democratic colleagues in 2012,” Haadsma said.
Repealing “right-to-work,” which prevents workers from having to pay union dues in unionized workplaces, has been an aim of labor activists and Democrats ever since the law was first passed in December 2012.
It was signed into law just five days after Gov. Rick Snyder and Republican legislative leaders announced the bills. It never received a committee hearing and drew thousands of union protestors to the Capitol for days.
Prevailing wage, a policy that contractors on state projects pay union wages for state construction projects, was passed by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2018. In 2021, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer restored prevailing wage on some state projects, but the legislation would restore the level to all state projects.
Haadsma hopes to have the bills signed into law by the legislature’s spring break in a little more than two weeks. Democrats in the House, where they hold a one-vote majority, are...
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