Although union membership in Michigan fell 7.6 percent from 2013 to 2014, the full effect of the state’s right-to-work law has yet to be seen, according to Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio.

“Right-to-work still has not kicked in for many Michigan workers,” he told The Detroit News. “As the contracts with the Big Three expire later this fall, tens of thousands of UAW autoworkers will be eligible for right-to-work. This includes many second-tier workers who are being paid far less than their co-workers because of UAW negotiated contracts. Past deals favoring older workers at the expense of new ones may come back to haunt to the UAW when younger workers are able to choose whether or not to support a union that short-changed them.”

Vernuccio also told the Detroit Free Press that there were other factors involved in the decline.

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