Study: If Michigan had adopted right-to-work in 1960s, the state would have 60,000 more auto-related jobs than it has

GRAND RAPIDS — If Michigan opted to be a right-to-work state back in the 1960s, it could have up to 60,000 more auto-related jobs, but they wouldn’t pay as well as they do today, according to a study commissioned by The Grand Rapids Press and Booth Newspapers.

Grand Valley State University economist Hari Singh authored the report, “Right to Work and Economic Impact: What It Means for Michigan?” as part of The Press’ Michigan 10.0 series on crucial questions for the state’s future.

The highly contentious issue — long considered a nonstarter in the home state of the United Auto Workers — is being raised anew by business groups and conservatives who argue such a law will help Michigan reverse its severe job losses.

Unions staunchly resist the idea, calling it instead “the right to work for less,” and say the deep recession’s credit crisis, housing slump and stalled auto sales were to blame for the state’s job losses, not its stand on union shops.

Right-to-work laws, in force in 22 states, do not ban unions but prohibit agreements between trade unions and an employer that make union membership and dues a job requirement. Such prohibitions make it harder for unions to organize, operate and collect dues.

Union shops are found across Michigan — at General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Delphi, Whirlpool and some Johnson Controls plants.

In the Grand Rapids area, there also are union shops at Bradford White Corp., American Seating Co., Kellogg Co., Dematic North America, a Benteler plant and General Electric Aviation, for example.

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In his study released today, Singh focused on nine states that have major auto-related industries. He compared six right-to-work states, Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, with Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, which all allow union shops.

Singh’s findings? Michigan could have 50,000 to 60,000 more people working in the auto industry today if it had become a right-to-work state in 1965. Those jobs would have accumulated over the years as more auto companies, suppliers, and other union-averse companies had moved to Michigan over time, Singh said. Taking the recent industry downturn out of the equation, the increase in auto-related jobs would total nearly a quarter of those employed in recent years.

But Singh also found those jobs would not be the high-paying jobs long associated with the industry.

“If we were an RTW state, annual wages of these workers would be significantly lower initially, dropping from the current $74,000 to perhaps in the mid-$60,000 range,” Singh said in an interview.

51% of Michigan's likely voters favor a right-to-work law

More than half of likely voters would support a right-to-work law in Michigan, according to a poll released on the eve of Labor Day weekend.

"Given Michigan's strong labor history, the results are somewhat surprising," said Kelly Rossman-McKinney, with poll producers The Rossman Group and Team TelCom.

The Grand Rapids Press commissioned the poll, and a study to be released Sunday, on how people feel about right to work laws and what impact they'd have on Michigan's job situation. The work was done as part of the Michigan 10.0 series (MLive.com/mi10), which has explored crucial issues facing Michigan. The series started in January and will run up to the gubernatorial election.

In the poll of 300 voters, conducted this week, 51 percent said they supported this question: Should Michigan pass a right-to-work law that means employees cannot be forced to join a labor union?

More than 27 percent opposed such a law, which would ban total-union shops and make union membership optional. In practice, it mandates open shops, where unions must represent both dues-payers and non-members in contract talks, grievances, and other traditional support roles.

Nonunion auto jobs in MS pay $15; union jobs in MI pay $14

New union jobs in Michigan auto plants pay $14 dollars an hour and are awful tough to find. It wasn't that long ago that GM eliminated 20,000 jobs as part of its bankruptcy.

New non-union auto jobs in Mississippi, which has right-to-work protections for employees, pay $15 an hour, and even in a tough economy, they are relatively easy to find. In fact, there's a new Toyota plant near Tupelo that's looking to hire about 2,000 workers.

Now, was someone saying something about right-to-work-for-less?

GOP gubernatorial campaign in Michigan highlights an issue - right to work - that would have been suicidal a few years ago

Oakland County Sherriff Mike Bouchard, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor, called for making Michigan a right to work State in a press release and commercial Wednesday. He pointed out that average right to work states have an 8 percent unemployment rate, compared with Michigan's rate of 13.8 percent.

Attorney General Mike Cox, who is also seeking the GOP nomination for governor, indicated support for right to work in a Tuesday Gubernatorial debate. "Fourteen right-to-work states have passed us by," in per-capita personal income, he said. "That's where our children are going." He ought to know. As he noted, his oldest daughter moved to right-to-work Tennessee.

So, now that right to work has entered the policy debate for this year's gubernatorial race, it's worth asking: What is it and what does it do?

Right to work generally refers to section 14b of the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, which allows states to bar union shop collective bargaining agreements in which paying union dues is required for many jobs. In non-right to work states, workers can be forced to join a union or pay dues as a condition of employment. To date, 22 states have adopted right to work laws since Taft-Hartley went into effect in 1947, mostly in the South and West.

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On average, right to work states have fared better than their closed shop neighbors. People know this, and are voting with their feet. According to a recent Cato Institute study, since 1970 the population of right to work states has more than doubled, while the population of closed shop states has increased by only 25.7 percent. And Census data show that 4.7 million Americans moved from closed shop states to right to work states between April 1, 2000, and July 1, 2008.

A 2009 Census estimate has Michigan's population dwindling below 10 million for the first time since 2001. Michigan was third out of 23 states experiencing outmigration, according to the estimate. Only California and New York, both closed shop states, came out ahead of Michigan.