Individual workers aren’t the only ones who stand to benefit from right-to-work laws, according to data from a recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

Vincent Vernuccio, director of labor policy at the Mackinac Center, explains in a Washington Examiner op-ed that unions also benefit from worker-freedom laws. According to BLS data, unions in right-to-work states gained more members in 2015 than those in states that allow forced unionism.

These gains come despite the fact that non-right-to-work states have over 7 million more workers than right-to-work states, according to the BLS report. The Illinois Policy Institute reports that this may be part of a long-term trend and not a one- or two-year fluke. Between 2005 and 2015, union membership grew in right-to-work states by about 1.3 percent, but fell around 9 percent in non-right-to-work states.

Vernuccio said the union growth may be due to the fact that right-to-work protections force unions to provide better service and value to members, making them more desirable.

Read the full op-ed at the Washington Examiner.

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