I’d like to relate a story that was told to GR Pundit today by someone who is a project manager for a large computer manufacturing company.

This person, we’ll call him Ken, was doing a project at one of the big three automakers recently. We’ll call this automaker DA (for Detroit Automaker). Ken explained how he was attempting to help DA with its PC deployment process. Here’s how it worked: The computers would arrive. FedEx is not a unionized company, so the FedEx employees were not allowed to unload the computers. One unionized employee would move the PCs from the dock to the staging area. Another union employee would move them from the staging area to the storage area. Another union employee would move the computer from the storage area to the actual workstation of the person to use the PC. Each step would require a change order and a $50 charge from the union, plus the labor cost of each union employee. No one from Ken’s company was allowed to move the computers themselves, only the unionized employees could do so. Ken said the entire project was such a nightmare that they basically gave up trying to improve DA’s processes. Impossible due to UAW work rules.

This is why the UAW is desperate to prevent bankruptcy. It would ruin their “work rules” scam.

Perhaps this is one reason why 61% of Americans oppose the Detroit Three bailout.

While the politicians in Lansing debate how best to tax businesses in Michigan, we notice the deafening silence on the issue that is truly the destroyer of Michigan’s economy – forced unionization. This past Saturday’s Wall Street Journal had an excellent editorial by Larry Reed of Midland’s Mackinac Center. He outlines the case for ending forced unionization. The concept is called “right-to-work,” which means that anyone is free to join a union or not. Today’s law in Michigan states that if you join a company with a union, you are forced to pay dues.

We only need to look south, within our own United States, to see the contrast between a heavily unionized state and a non-heavily unionized state. Alabama, which is seeing new car factories being built like crazy, is the exact opposite of Michigan. In fact, according to the editorial, “If current trends continue, Alabama will eclipse Michigan in per-capita income in just three years. With base pay and bonuses, and especially when the cost of living is factored in, nonunion workers in many auto plants in the south are better off than their union counterparts in Michigan.” That’s a powerful statement.

Michigan needs to pass right-to-work legislation immediately. Another interesting point, according to the editorial, is that, between 1970 and 2000, right-to-work states created 1.43 million manufacturing jobs, while non-right-to-work states lost 2.18 million jobs.

The politicians can tinker with taxes all they want, but nothing will substantially change until the real labor environment in Michigan changes. Car factories are being built in the south, while car factories and manufacturers are shuttering in Michigan.

“The domestic auto industry’s structure is not stable… And, simply put, we expect it will get worse before it gets better.”

We’re seeing the beginning of a dramatic restructuring of the US automotive industry, and by extension, the legacy manufacturing sector. As GM, Ford, and Chrysler are experiencing record amounts of idle time at factories, Toyota is scrambling to open more US plants.

Michigan is going to bear the brunt of the negative effects of this change, and we’d better be willing to face the realities of the situation. Michigan must be made attractive to business investment if we are to get through this.