On March 24, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation repealing a 2012 law that made Michigan a “right-to-work” (RTW) state — the first time since 1965 that a RTW law was repealed and only the fifth time ever since these laws were first introduced in the 1940s. Michigan’s repeal dropped the number of RTW states to twenty-six.
Despite their name, RTW laws have nothing to do with guaranteeing a right to employment. Rather, they allow workers in unionized workplaces to opt out of paying for the costs associated with negotiating and enforcing their union contract. Employers tout them as a bulwark of freedom against “compulsory unionism,” while unions decry them for sapping union solidarity and resources by guaranteeing a “right to freeload.”
The news grabbed national headlines. President Joe Biden sent out an approving tweet. Labor groups celebrated, and employer groups acknowledged defeat while sounding ominous warnings about the consequences.
Why do so many people care about what seems on its face to be an arcane piece of labor law? Some labor partisans are excited that nonmember workers at unionized shops will again have to pay “fair share” or “agency” fees. Since it remains illegal in the United States to require union membership as a condition of employment, unions in non-RTW states allow workers who do not want to join their union to pay a fee that represents the costs associated with negotiating and enforcing the contract at their workplace. This generally...
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