LANSING, Michigan — The Democratic-led Michigan Legislature voted along party lines Tuesday on landmark legislation to restore prevailing wages for state construction projects and repeal the right-to-work law that barred union contracts from requiring membership fees as a condition of employment.
The Michigan Senate took a final vote on the bill to repeal the right-to-work law for private employers and sent the measure to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's desk on Tuesday afternoon. The Senate passed the bill 20-16 along party lines after the legislation cleared the House in a 56-52 party-line vote.
The House on Tuesday also approved two other labor bills in the package, one House bill that helps to require union-rate wages for public construction jobs and another bill that would repeal right-to-work for public sector employees.
The votes Tuesday were significant for the labor movement nationally, said Ron Bieber, president of the Michigan American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO).
“It’s a huge day for the working people of Michigan,” Bieber said.
Rep. Regina Weiss, the Oak Park Democrat who sponsored the public sector right-to-work repeal, said the final passage of the bills Tuesday delivered on changes promised by the new Democratic majorities when they took office in January. Weiss rejected arguments that the right-to-work repeal would hurt the state's economy.
"To me, it's not a choice," Weiss said. "You don't have to choose to support business and then also choose to screw over workers. You can support business, you can support workers at the same time."
The legislation headed to Whitmer's desk would allow union contracts to require workers to pay agency fees for the cost of representation at the bargaining table with their employer.
Rep. Abraham Aiyash, D-Hamtramck, argued the legislation restoring prevailing wage for state contracts "pays the workers what they're worth."
"We are trying to ensure that people in the state of Michigan can afford to live in this state," Aiyash said. "I know it’s a radical idea.”
Rep. Jay DeBoyer, R-Clay Township, said he could not support a bill that increased costs on taxpayers by requiring union-level wages in the construction of roads and government buildings.
"Here we are again," DeBoyer said. "We’re debating a bill that will only provide benefits to the people who receive the money at the expense of the taxpayer.”
Each of the right-to-work bills and the prevailing wage legislation include appropriations that will make them referendum-proof. Whitmer is expected to sign the bills despite a vow in 2019 to veto bills that sought to sidestep a voter's right to referendum.
Prevailing wage pushback
House Republicans criticized Senate additions to the prevailing wage restoration bill, which upped compliance mandates to require every contract to express the prevailing wage is being paid. Violations were increased from a misdemeanor in the initial language to creating allowances for businesses or third parties to seek injunctive relief if they feel the law is being violated and seek a fine of up to $5,000.
The policy, which would leave investigations up to the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, weaponizes the department and will lead to frivolous lawsuits, said House Republican Leader Matt Hall of Richland Township.
"It is used to intimidate and discourage many of these small businesses to just give in and become a union shop," Hall said.
Rep. Graham Filler, R-DeWitt, said the last-minute changes amounted to "prevailing wage on steroids."
Opponents of prevailing wage, which has been repealed since 2018, have generally argued it artificially raises the cost of state construction jobs. Supporters have said the state will save money in the long run by paying skilled workers sufficient wages, which will be subject to the state's 4.25% income tax.
"The inevitable outcome of these short-sighted policies to kill fair competition in the marketplace is that fewer roads and bridges get fixed and higher taxes will need to be imposed to fix them," said Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Township, in a statement.
Labor law history
The Legislature's repeal of the right-to-work law comes roughly a decade after House and Senate Republican majorities in 2012 passed the law amid large union protests on the Capitol lawn. Republican former Gov. Rick Snyder signed the bills into law.
The bills at that time included an appropriation that also made them referendum-proof.
Supporters of the right-to-work repeal legislation have argued the mandated fees for non-union workers guard against "freeloaders" who benefit from union bargaining efforts without paying their fair share of union dues. Unions are required by federal law to represent all those who belong to collective bargaining units, regardless of whether members pay dues.
Opponents of the legislation have said right-to-work laws acknowledge a worker's freedom to choose to belong to a union and are an important tool in increasing a union's accountability and responsiveness to workers.
The Republican-led Legislature in 2018 repealed the prevailing wage law after organizers gathered enough signatures to put the repeal on a ballot proposal. The chambers adopted the policy before it could be placed on the ballot, ensuring passage and sidestepping the promised veto of Snyder, who opposed getting rid of prevailing wage rates. Snyder argued at the time that it was under undermining his efforts to promote careers in skilled trades amid worker shortages in the construction industry.
The effect of the prevailing wage repeal has been muted in recent years, in part because federal law already requires union-level pay on federally aided projects. Additionally, Whitmer in 2021 issued an order partially restoring the prevailing wage.
Whitmer ordered her state Department of Technology, Management and Budget in October 2021 to require contractors and subcontractors on jobs worth over $50,000 to pay their employees the prevailing wage. The order was upheld in the state Court of Claims.
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