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Hydra-Lock employees vote to decertify their union

Forced into a union by the repeal of right-to-work, they opted out

Michigan workers are still exercising their option to bargain on their own behalf even after last year’s repeal of the state’s right-to-work law. Maintenance and production employees at Hydra-Lock Corp. voted recently to decertify United Auto Workers Local 155 as their collective bargaining representative.

The vote came after Keith Woody, an employee of the Mt. Clemens hydraulic tooling company, circulated an election petition to decertify the union. The National Right to Work Foundation aided Woody’s effort.

With 11 eligible voters, seven cast their ballots to decertify the union. The National Labor Relations Board, which oversees union elections, certified the results Oct. 21. Employees are no longer required to join or pay the UAW as a condition of employment.

Only production and maintenance workers are affected. Nothing changes for security guards, janitors and other employees.

“This is the latest in a surge of Michigan workers rejecting union bosses’ forced dues powers since the repeal of Michigan’s popular right-to-work law,” Patrick Semmens, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email.

Public opinion surveys show that Michigan voters, including unionized workers, strongly opposed the right-to-work repeal, Semmens added.

Semmens predicted more decertification elections. “As long as Michigan union bosses are authorized to force workers to pay dues or else be fired, workers will continue to exercise their rights to hold decertification or deauthorization votes to escape forced dues,” he wrote.

Shawn Fain, the current UAW president, is being investigated by federal monitor Neil Barofsky over alleged retaliation against a UAW leader and what Barofsky called a “lapse” in producing necessary documents. The appointment of the monitor is part of a consent decree that ended more than a dozen federal criminal probes after former UAW President Gary Jones was convicted of embezzlement in 2021.

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.

News Story

Whitmer boasts of Michigan’s energy prices, which are high for its region

Net-zero mandates will drive up costs even more

As Gov. Gretchen Whitmer claims to be keeping energy prices low, Michigan's costs are among the highest in the region, while the state's energy reliablilty ranks low nationally.

“We’re keeping energy costs low, shoring up domestic energy production, and keeping our state competitive,” Whitmer tweeted Sept. 30, discussing renewable energy standards and the reopening of the Palisades nuclear plant.

Michigan’s energy rate for all sectors of the economy was 14.48 cents per kilowatt hour in August, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. This gave Michigan the highest rate in the region. Wisconsin had the second-highest rate, 13.33 cents, while Ohio had the lowest at 11.53. The average cost of electricity in the United States in August was 13.61 cents per kilowatt-hour.

The governor has pushed for a net-zero mandate to drive energy supplies away from natural gas and toward solar and wind. This mandate will cost households an additional $2,746 per year, according to Jason Hayes, director of energy and environmental policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Attorney General Dana Nessel also seems to disagree with Whitmer’s assessment. "Michigan utility customers are already subjected to some of the nation’s highest electric rates, lowest standards of reliability and service, and utility partners who only ever ask for more and more from increasingly dissatisfied customers," Nessel tweeted in October.

Michigan came in 41st in a US News ranking of states for energy reliability, and Energy News Network has reported that the state is among the top states for power outages in recent years.

Whitmer did not respond to an email seeking comment.

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.