The UAW contract with Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler expired on Sept. 14, giving employees in Michigan their first opportunity to resign from the union since the passage of right-to-work in 2012.

Mackinac Center Director of Labor Policy F. Vincent Vernuccio and Terry Bowman, an employee of Ford and founder of Union Conservatives, authored an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Sept. 16, examining reasons why workers might choose to leave the UAW and the future of the union in the coming years:

Other issues have nothing to do with wages or the collective-bargaining process. Instead, they are wounds the UAW inflicted on itself. Union officials, in a move that angered many workers, increased membership dues by 25% in 2014. Workers now pay dues worth 2½ hours of work every month, the first increase of its kind since 1967.…

However, it may not all be doom and gloom for the UAW. Now that it will have to compete for a worker’s loyalty and prove its value to potential members, the union could emerge better equipped to do what it was originally created for — represent the best interests of all workers.

The full op-ed can be read at the Wall Street Journal website.

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