The Michigan House and Senate passed right-to-work bills tonight aimed at preventing workers from having to financially support a union as a condition of employment.
House Bill 4054 passed 58-42 and Senate Bill 116 passed 22-16.
Earlier in the day, Gov. Rick Snyder said he would sign the bills when they get to his desk, which could be Tuesday.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio writes in a USA Today Op-Ed that was recently posted that a right-to-work law in Michigan will “be a sign to businesses that organized labor no longer calls the shots” here and will help Michigan’s slowly recovering economy get back on track more quickly.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio was cited in The Wall Street Journal today about the introduction of right-to-work legislation in Lansing.
"Right-to-work is a big sign that Michigan is open for business," he said.
The Royal Oak Daily Tribune, Macomb Daily and Oakland Press also cited Vernuccio in stories today about Gov. Rick Snyder calling for the Michigan Legislature to pass a right-to-work bill.
In two previous posts here I shared segments of a 1999 video shot at United Auto Workers Local 699 in Saginaw that shows speakers discussing union politicking and ugly threats of violence over a work slowdown. With a possible Michigan right-to-work law in the news, it’s worth examining a third clip from the same video and address an alleged “free rider” problem it raises
The Wall Street Journal in an editorial cites Mackinac Center research showing that Michigan has lost more than 7,000 jobs since neighboring Indiana became a right-to-work state. The Hoosier State, however, has added more than 43,000 jobs during the same time.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio is cited in Reuters and appeared on “The Willis Report” on Fox Business to discuss the benefits Michigan would accrue from becoming a right-to-work state.
Vernuccio told Reuters that Michigan has already been impacted by Indiana passing a right-to-work law earlier this year. The Hoosier state has added 43,300 jobs, while Michigan lost 7,300. He specifically points to Caterpillar’s decision to move its London, Ontario, plant to Muncie, Ind., which was announced shortly after Indiana passed its worker freedom bill.
Last week, I wrote a blog post (”MEA Misleads on Oklahoma Right-to-Work Numbers”) about Michigan’s largest labor union claiming that since Oklahoma became a right-to-work state in 2001, “10 years later, jobs fell by 25 percent and the number of companies moving there dropped by 33 percent.” As I pointed out, this is false: Jobs in Oklahoma are up 3.8 percent since 2001 while Michigan, on the other hand, lost 13.8 percent of its jobs during the same time, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Though Michigan public school teachers receive generous protections against termination, they can be quickly fired for not paying union dues.
Just this year, Kalamazoo Public Schools fired a teacher — not for poor performance or for inappropriate conduct — but because she didn't pay her union $411.25.
From today’s Michigan Information & Research Service (subscription required):
That may be understating the possible decline. When Wisconsin reforms ended forced dues payments for school and government employees, membership in teachers unions fell 30 percent according to union sources, and reportedly by more than half in some other government unions.
Even though a bill has yet to surface, legislators Tuesday were getting an earful from supporters and opponents of making Michigan a right-to-work state. The voices came from Tea Party members, small business owners and union members. Americans for Prosperity-Michigan set up an information tent in front of the Capitol and Union Conservatives brought in several members.
The Dearborn Press, Oakland Press, Macomb Daily and Royal Oak Daily Tribune all have a story about the possibility of Michigan becoming a right-to-work state that highlight this explainer video by Senior Investigative Analyst Anne Schieber explaining what right-to-work is.
Perhaps the single best single indicator of "quality of life" differences between states is migration. That is, where are people moving from and to, and how many are doing so?
The reasons people move are many, but most can be summed up in one word: opportunity. Among other things, current migration patterns suggest that critics who claim that right-to-work laws reduce economic opportunity have some ‘splainin’ to do.
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio was cited by MLive.com and WJRT TV-12 about the economic benefits of Michigan becoming a right-to-work state.
“Right-to-work is usually one part of a larger package that signals the state is open for business,” Vernuccio told MLive. “They’re favoring job creators and workers above the special interests.”
Michael LaFaive, director of the Center’s Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, told The Detroit News that it would be wrong to use taxpayer dollars to help fund a new hockey arena for the Detroit Red Wings.
“The bottom line is that if this is a viable project, no taxpayer money should be involved at all,” LaFaive said. “If Mr. Ilitch thought investing in Detroit would make it more vibrant, then that’s great news, but the fact he believes subsidies are necessary belies that assertion.”
The Wall Street Journal cites Mackinac Center research showing how Detroit could have saved hundreds of millions of dollars by following our analysts’ advice to privatize certain city services over the past several years.
The New York Times has a long piece discussing the use — and abuse — of state and local tax incentives to businesses.
The Times estimates a minimum of $80 billion worth of select tax breaks are given out nationwide each year, though the real number is much higher since many locals do not track the money or require a proper accounting. These breaks are the result of state and local bureaucrats and elected officials picking and choosing which companies should receive special economic treatment while the rest of businesses and individual taxpayers pay full freight.
As Michigan’s Legislature considers whether to make ours a right-to-work state, an MLive political column on the issue calls it “… the single most divisive issue in Michigan, where the union movement was born during the Flint sit-down strikes nine decades ago when police bloodied workers for having the audacity to fight for a union to secure a livable wage.”
Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio explains in The Detroit News today that a right-to-work law in Michigan would “not affect collective bargaining in any other way except for prohibiting a union from getting a worker fired for not paying them.”
In a speech recently, Gov. Rick Snyder reiterated his support of natural gas extraction via hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). This is a good sign for taxpayers, job seekers and environmentalists.
Despite the alarmism, fracking is safe — and much safer than the alternatives. Most of the fear about gas extraction comes from a disingenuous scene from a film in which people light the methane coming through their water pipes on fire because of alleged improper well construction, which has nothing to do with fracking.
It’s rare for employers to oppose right-to-work laws — the policy of allowing employees to choose whether or not to financially support unions. But that’s the exactly the position of two organizations that represent one of the state’s largest, tax-supported employers — public schools.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 1360, Extend deadline on school employee pension reform choices: Passed 26 to 12 in the Senate
To extend from October 26, 2012 to January 9, 2013, the deadline for public school employees to choose whether to contribute more toward the cost of their defined benefit pensions or else accept a slightly less generous benefit calculation formula, as required by a recently-passed pension reform law.
Right-to-work states have more job growth and wage growth than forced unionism states, Labor Policy Director F. Vincent Vernuccio told The Washington Times.
“Michigan is the only state in the country during the last census to lose population,” he added. “Forced unionism is even hurting itself and its stronghold.”
If Michigan were to become a right-to-work state, unions could no longer force members to financially support them. Around the country, many workers flee their union when given the choice. This means that our state’s largest union, the Michigan Education Association, could potentially lose a lot of members if teachers decide the group is not delivering services worth hundreds of dollars a year in dues.
Senior Investigative Analyst Anne Schieber explains in this short video what right-to-work is, and what it is not. You can read more about this issue here.
Michigan lawmakers are edging closer to granting workers the freedom to choose their workplace destiny through a right-to-work law, which prohibits employers from requiring union dues or fee payments as a condition of employment.
This comes within a year of Indiana making the same decision.
