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.

From the article:

The rally wasn’t an authorized union gathering. UAW member Greg Shotwell of Coopersville, a worker at the Delphi plant there, organized it. Shotwell calls his group SOS, or Soldiers For Solidarity.

Cole told 24 Hour News 8 that upon learning Shotwell was from West Michigan the group from Toyota dropped West Michigan from the list.

“The message is that the UAW can’t control its own people,” Cole said.

The UAW is doing its best to ensure that Michigan economy continues to rank as the nation’s worst.

It speaks to a growing skepticism and sometimes outright distain of a union that historically inspired unflinching loyalty from members and fear from management.

Does this really surprise anyone? Just what, exactly, does the UAW do for its workers these days? The UAW got themselves into labor contracts which were inherently unsustainable, now the Detroit big three find themselves in a situation where they simply must move production overseas to compete.

Somehow Toyota is doing just fine with its factories in the US – but the UAW is actively hindering the big three’s ability to compete. The UAW, along with most of the legacy unions, is rapidly becoming obsolete. The sooner they disappear, the sooner Michigan’s economy can become competitive again.

“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.