(Source: MIRS.news, Published 03/13/2023) Ask voters if they support a law that "nobody be required to pay dues or fees to a union in order to hold a job," and 60% of Michigan voters will say yes.
Ask voters if they support laws that guarantee employees at unionized workplaces equally contribute to the costs of union representation and 58% also say yes.
Supporting the first question and you're backing Right to Work, the law that allows workers in union shops to not pay union dues or fees compensating the bargaining unit for the efforts.
Supporting the second question is being opposed to Right to Work.
The second question was unveiled Monday as part of an Impact Research poll that found 75% of Michigan voters would support "restoring pro-union laws in Michigan."
The Jan. 21-24 poll of 800 likely 2024 voters using live phone and text interviews had a +/-3.5% margin of error.
Voters also supported "changing the Michigan state constitution to guarantee the right of workers to collectively bargain 61% of the time, with 77% supportive of giving farmworkers and domestic workers the right to collectively bargain for better pay and workplace safety."
Michigan AFL-CIO President Ron Bieber said on the MIRS Monday podcast that the growing support for unions, along with a growing labor shortage, is a result of a "system of worker suppression over 40 years."
Workers in states with Right to Work laws make on average $8,900 less, Bieber said, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"There's not necessarily a shortage of workers," he said. "There's a shortage of people who are willing to be treated terribly while doing jobs."
Bieber said the speedy timeline for taking up the Right to Work repeal and prevailing wage restoration legislation is a result of lots of "pent-up interest" and workers who don't want to wait any longer. The Senate Labor Committee is scheduled to take up these bills at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Bieber said polling has shown that many individuals, especially young people, are also on board with joining and supporting labor unions when possible.
He referenced an August 2022 Gallup poll that found U.S. approval of labor unions at 71%, the highest rating since 1965.
When asked about the potential for a constitutional amendment to bring back Right to Work if it's repealed by the Legislature, Bieber said the landscape has changed greatly since 2012 when Right to Work was implemented. States that have tried to enact Right to Work legislation, including Ohio and Missouri, saw it shot down.
In Illinois, Bieber said, voters last year enshrined collective bargaining and organizing in their constitution, and Michigan has a lot in common with them.
He said that though the process, including the repeal in the Legislature, could go both ways, "we haven't even passed the law yet, for God's sake."
Legislation spearheaded by Rep. Joey Andrews (D-St. Joseph) would allow labor union members to write off dues on state income tax returns and deduct contributions to a union political action committee, but AFL-CIO president Ron Bieber said the pro-labor measures are no more than "restoring the balance of power."
The eight-bill package introduced in the House last Thursday addresses what Bieber called a decades-long "power grab" to starve labor unions and reduce workers' rights.
Bieber said the package addresses worker suppression legislation, much of which was introduced during former Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration in 2012.
The recently-introduced package allows public employers to automatically deduct union dues from member paychecks with
HB 4230, allows the use of public school resources to help local union dues collection with HB 4233, gives HB 4234’s allowance for private businesses to automatically deduct contributions to union PACs and includes HB 4235, which allows union members to write off union dues on their state income tax.
When asked if the AFL-CIO, Michigan's largest labor organization, would be supportive of the legislation, Bieber's answer was overwhelmingly yes. He asked "where is the good public policy" in taking away the right of union workers to deduct their dues automatically or support union PACs?
You can still donate to a company PAC if you want, and it's no different than what you'd do for a charity, he said.
"To take that away, it's just a power grab."
Bieber said the bulk of the legislation wouldn't take additional resources or appropriations and would only require communication between workers and management. He said their true purpose is to level the playing field and get things back to an even keel.
Andrews' introduction came only hours after House Democrats voted to repeal Right to Work legislation, which Bieber called a misnomer on the MIRS Monday podcast.
He said though it will take educational efforts to get everyone behind repealing Right to Work legislation, which he said has "nothing to do with anybody's ability to have employment," Bieber added that many businesses are on board with more union protections.
"You don't hear complaints from the organized union-represented companies," he said. "They're not the ones screaming up and down that you've got to have a constitutional amendment."
