More than half of the United States agrees that workers should have the right to choose what’s best for them – with 28 states having adopted right-to-work laws. And while Democrats talk about repealing this law in Michigan and strip workers of their freedom of choice, we think it’s important for Michiganders to know the truth about the law in our state.
Research shows that right-to-work laws bear fruit for economies, positively impacting growth, investment, and innovation. It’s simple – when workers aren’t boxed in by union interests they’re not aligned with, they’re able to think and act freely, which generates new ideas and growth for communities. Democrats repeat the false premise that workers who opt out of unions are “freeloaders,” when in reality, without right-to-work it is unions who freeload off of workers by forcing them to pay without giving workers a choice. Further, it is unions that demand ‘exclusivity’; it’s this that causes them to represent everyone – not right-to-work.
Michiganders had been wanting our state to adopt right-to-work for a long time; this wasn’t a decision that legislation made overnight. Right-to-work was openly discussed for nearly two years before it passed into law, and there was an extensive open debate on the floor of both chambers. The only process right-to-work didn’t observe was the Committee hearing process, due to safety threats communicated by law enforcement, which were unfortunately carried out through violence at the Capitol.
That’s why Michigan voters overwhelmingly rejected a previous effort to block right-to-work and the legislature enacted the law in 2012. Additionally, over the last 20 years, polling has shown that the majority of the public consistently supports right-to-work, including the majority of union households. And right-to-work support is not just bound to Michigan; Tennessee voters wrote the law into their state’s constitution just last year by a 2:1 margin.
It’s clear that Michiganders are in favor of right-to-work. We can’t let politicians strip workers of their freedom to decide our own destiny and the destiny of our communities. Contact your local legislator today and let them know why maintaining right-to-work laws are necessary for you.
