by Michael Sean Winters
Follow on Twitter at @michaelswinters
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Last week, the lower chamber of the Michigan legislature approved two bills that would repeal that state's "right-to-work" law. Control of both chambers of the legislature flipped to the Democrats last November, allowing them the chance to overturn the anti-union legislation which was signed into law by Republican Gov. Rick Snyder in 2012, when the GOP controlled the state legislature.
The misnamed "right-to-work" laws actually enshrine a "right-to-freeload," permitting workers to benefit from the work a union does for them without paying dues or contributing to the costs of negotiating contracts and working with management to guarantee a safe workplace. No one, in a free country, should be forced to join a union, but why should some people be able to make others pay for the kind of things unions provide to all the workers at a given facility? Needless to say, corporate interests and ideological libertarians support "right-to-work" laws.
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