Marathon Pundit: Right-to-work: Michigan set free

Michigan workers were set free a few days ago.

From the Wall Street Journal (paid registration required):

Michigan officially became America's 24th Right to Work (RTW) state last week when an RTW law—passed by the Republican legislature back in December amidst fierce union opposition in Lansing—went into effect. "It was always pure and simple about recruiting more businesses and jobs to Michigan," state Senator Arlan Meekhof, the primary sponsor of the legislation told me in an interview last week. He sees the issue of one of workers' rights, and he calls the bill "freedom to work."

RTW laws don't abolish unions. But they allow every worker to join or not join the union and pay dues. For that reason labor bosses are still fighting feverishly to overturn the law. They have launched several legal challenges to get the courts to invalidate it and are considering a ballot initiative for 2014 that would try to get a majority of voters to repeal it. Some protest groups have also threatened to disclose names and addresses of workers who do not join the union shop—an old-fashioned intimidation tactic.

Unions have also launched end runs around the law by locking workers into long term contracts. Normal teacher contracts are for about three years. But several school districts have been racing to sign contracts for eight to 10 years. As Charlie Owens, the head of the state's National Federation of Independent Business wrote in the Detroit News last month: "One only need examine Michigan's Right to Work law to discover why 10-year school contracts are now all the rage." The unions, he wrote, "are amazingly motivated to sign onto anything just short of eternity to avoid giving their members the right to choose to pay dues."

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, based in Midland Michigan, has filed a lawsuit on behalf of three teachers against the Taylor school district, its board of education and the Taylor Federation of Teachers for the 10-year extension. If the extension is successfully imposed it will force employees to financially support the union even under the new RTW law.