Michigan 'right to work' law: Worse for unions than Wisconsin setback?
Last year Wisconsin was a battleground for union rights, as Republican Gov. Scott Walker pushed through a law limiting collective bargaining for many public-sector unions and then survived a recall election. This year organized labor鈥檚 focus has turned to Michigan, where a Republican-controlled legislature looks set to pass a so-called 鈥渞ight-to-work鈥� law banning compulsory union fees.
Which of these might end up a worse defeat for US unions? We鈥檇 say Michigan, without question.
Michigan is the birthplace and stronghold of the United Auto Workers and a state steeped in union history. In Michigan they still remember where Ford guards beat UAW officials near Dearborn鈥檚 Rouge plant in a pyrrhic victory that led to the union鈥檚 rise.
President Obama beat Mitt Romney in Michigan by 10 percentage points despite the fact that Mr. Romney grew up there. If Republicans can enact laws limiting union power in Michigan, where might they turn next?
鈥淚n political terms this really does seem like the tipping point ... if right-to-work can pass in Michigan, then why shouldn鈥檛 Republicans press for it in Wisconsin or Ohio or Pennsylvania?鈥� writes Slate鈥檚 .
Some liberals are bitter about this looming defeat. They say that while 24 states currently have right-to-work laws, the right鈥檚 push to spread such legislation had stalled 鈥� until now.
鈥淚f their win in Michigan sticks, the hoary, Dixie-fried Right-To-Work cause will shake off the dust of the political graveyard and become the hot new thing across the industrial Midwest. It鈥檚 sad but true,鈥� writes Ed Kilgore in the Washington Monthly鈥檚 .
But in some ways labor鈥檚 possible loss in Michigan shouldn鈥檛 be surprising.
First, it鈥檚 not as Democratic a state as you might think. Or rather, it鈥檚 a state where the Democratic vote is concentrated in Detroit, Ann Arbor, and a few other cities, while Republicans are spread out in a large geographic area. The GOP controls both Michigan鈥檚 House and Senate, after all.
Michigan has 15 congressional districts. Nine of them lean Republican, according to the partisan voting index of Charlie Cook鈥檚 Political Report. Six are Democratic, some by huge margins.
Second, labor recently made a large tactical error. It pushed for a proposed amendment to the Michigan constitution that would enshrine collective bargaining rights. The point was to head off the changes pushed through by the Republicans across Lake Michigan in Wisconsin.聽That measure was on the ballot in November and lost badly. It ended up as an advertisement for labor鈥檚 weakness instead of its strength.
Third, the UAW isn鈥檛 what it once was. In the 1970s it boasted more than 1.5 million members. Now UAW membership is fewer than 400,000 and declining. GM and Chrysler have been through managed bankruptcies, and workers throughout the state are wary of further disruptions.
On Tuesday the Michigan House approved a version of the contentious right-to-work law despite union protests outside the state Capitol in Lansing. Gov. Rick Snyder has said he鈥檒l sign final versions of the bill for both public and private unions as early as Wednesday.
