This article originally appeared in The Detroit News September 17, 2024. 

It is no secret that Michigan Democrats, having gained a policymaking trifecta in the 2022 elections, were intent on repaying favors to organized labor.

Elected officials said as much. Speaking at a Michigan Education Association conference in February 2023, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer noted the union’s influence early in her political career. “Twenty-some years ago when I first ran for the state House, the first organized labor endorsement that I got was from the MEA,” the governor said. “And I’ll never forget that.”

Whitmer continued, “I love this organization. I love the leadership of this organization. I appreciate the work of every person who is a member of this organization. I want you to know: I will be at the front of this fight every single day.”

A month later, Whitmer spoke at the United Auto Workers convention. She celebrated the recent repeal of right-to-work and the state’s new prevailing wage law.

“I’m here because the UAW has been a phenomenal partner to me,” she said, “and I will continue so long as I’m in office to be a phenomenal partner to you, too.”

We can now measure how this political favoritism is affecting Michigan’s competitiveness and attractiveness.

David R. Osborne, a senior fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation, just co-wrote a national report, “The Battle for Worker Freedom: Grading State Public Sector Labor Laws.” Osborne is a respected labor policy analyst and litigator. Former President Donald Trump appointed him to the Federal Service Impasses Panel, which resolves federal labor disputes. Osborne served in that role until two unions demanded that newly elected President Joe Biden remove him. Biden obliged.

Every two years, the Commonwealth Foundation ranks every state based on how strongly it has resisted the demands of organized labor.

Government unions across the nation have been losing members, especially since the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision of Janus v. AFSCME, which said employees do not have to pay a union as a condition of working in government. Osborne told me four unions alone — AFT, AFSCME, NEA and SEIU — have lost a combined 700,000 people since 2018.

Michigan has tumbled down the Commonwealth Foundation’s ranking, falling from a “B” grade in 2022 to a “D” today. Michigan now ranks below states that boast the best population growth, such as Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

Why did Michigan fall so low? Osborne pointed to several legislative acts: the repeal of right-to-work and the law that once banned the practice of collecting union dues through the government payroll system, relaxation of campaign finance restrictions on labor unions and new rules that make it easier for unions to organize public workplaces.

The same legislation, as it happens, that Gov. Whitmer has been bragging about.

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