News reports about the pending right-to-work legislation are filled with dire predictions and statistics that fit specific story lines.
The Detroit Free Press, for example, ran a story after right-to-work legislation was introduced in the state House and Senate claiming that right-to-work states had lower-income residents than non-right-to-work states.
"The data on wages tell a fairly clear story," the Free Press story said. "Of the top 10 states in per capita income in 2011, seven were not right-to-work states. Of the bottom 10 states with the lowest per capita income, seven were right-to work states.”
However, Mackinac Center for Public Policy Fiscal Policy Analyst James Hohman said there are flaws in that logic.
The Free Press inaccurately used per capita income data to support a claim about wages, Hohman said.
Per capita personal income is different than wages. Per capita income includes such compensation as welfare payments and unemployment benefits and investment gains, all of which have little to do with the impact right-to-work has on wages, he said. Hohman estimated that per capita personal income is made up of about 65 to 70 percent of wages.
Also, the Free Press implied that where right-to-work states rank in terms of per capita income is due to right-to-work legislation.
That isn't necessarily true either, Hohman said.
Many right-to-work states lagged behind non-right-to-work states in per capita income before right-to-work even became an option in 1947.
For example, from 1929 to 1946, Texas’ per capita income was $540, which at that time put it 36 percent below the average per capita income of non-right-to-work states. In 2011, Texas’ per capita income was $40,147 and was just 8 percent below the average per capita income of non-right-to-work states.
“In other words, the gaps in incomes have existed before right-to-work laws and have only narrowed since,” Hohman said.
Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.
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The Human Side of Right-to-Work Legislation
These are real people who have been hurt by forced unionization
As Michigan gets closer to becoming a right-to-work state, the focus often is on economics. There are plenty of reasons to support worker freedom based on that alone, but we should always remember the most important aspect: Allowing members the choice of whether to financially support a political organization is a moral one.
In our state, right now, tens of thousands of people are being forced to send money to the Service Employees International Union, simply because they care for a friend or family member who receives a Medicaid stipend.
The SEIU has taken over $33 million from the elderly and disabled in Michigan in the last six years through a unionization scheme it orchestrated when Jennifer Granholm was governor. The majority of these people had no idea they were being forced into a union.
When the Michigan Legislature and Gov. Rick Snyder acted to end the scheme, the SEIU took legal action and then spent at least $6 million — money taken from those caregivers without their consent to use it for politics — to try and lock the dues skim into the state constitution: It failed.
Every newspaper in the state editorialized against Proposal 4. The Detroit Free Press called it "easy to dismiss" and The Detroit News said it was a "crass power grab."
Several families reached out to Michigan Capitol Confidential to tell their stories: The Haynes family, who look after their two adult children who have cerebral palsy; Steven Glossop, who looks after his mother who lives with medical complications following heart surgery and a stroke; the Milliron family, whose adult son Ronnie "cannot walk or talk and is like a 5-month old" needing to be spoon-fed; and Richard Nottage, who looked after his ex-wife for just a few weeks. All of those individuals had some sort of current or previous experience as union members outside of the SEIU.
If Michigan becomes a right-to-work state, no union could ever force a worker to pay dues or agency fees as a condition of employment, and unions would be forced to cater to their member's needs.
If you think this is only an economic debate, I encourage you to watch the Haynes family tell their story of forced unionization.
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Michigan Capitol Confidential is the news source produced by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Michigan Capitol Confidential reports with a free-market news perspective.
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