Obama wrong about impact of right to work laws

Byron York:

While Washington obsesses about the "fiscal cliff," there are potentially more consequential events taking place far from the halls of Congress. In a move that rivals and perhaps surpasses the decision to limit organized labor's collective bargaining powers in Wisconsin, Republican lawmakers in Michigan are expected to pass final legislation Tuesday to end the requirement that workers pay union dues or fees as a condition of their employment.

If the GOP succeeds, Michigan, home of the nation's heavily unionized auto industry, will become the 24th right-to-work state in the country -- a development that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.

Republicans say the move would not only give current workers the freedom to choose whether to join a union and pay dues but would, more importantly, bring many, many new jobs to Michigan. Rep. Gov. Rick Snyder, who supports the bill, points out that Indiana enacted (after a long and bitter fight) the same kind of law earlier this year. "We've carefully watched what's gone on in Indiana since they passed similar legislation back in February," Snyder told Fox News' Greta van Susteren last week, "and they've seen a significant increase in the number of companies talking about [bringing] thousands of jobs to their state."

Of course, the move is not just economic. It's political, too. Democrats depend on millions -- actually, billions -- of dollars in support from the forced dues of union members. If that money supply were to dry up, or even just decrease, the Democratic Party would be in serious trouble.

Which is why President Obama just happened to discuss the situation during his campaign-style visit to the Daimler Detroit Diesel Plant in Redford, Mich., on Monday. "These so-called right-to-work laws don't have anything to do with economics -- they have everything to do with politics," Obama said. "What they're really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money."

Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Committee, which supports the move, says that from the president's perspective, the fight does indeed have everything to do with politics. "President Obama was the recipient of literally hundreds of millions of dollars from union officials," Mix says. "If union officials can't compel union workers to pay dues as a condition of their employment, the fees that they use for political activity would dry up very quickly."

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Texas is a right to work state that has competitive wages and growing job opportunities.  In Midland, which has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, the starting wage at McDonald's is $20 an hour.  I have heard similar stories about jobs in North Dakota which is exploiting the Bakken shale formation.  But over all Right to work states are out performing forced union states in nearly every category, and especially in job creation.

The other benefit is it defunds the Democrat party.  People are no longer forced to contribute to the evils of liberalism.  Michigan is especially vulnerable, because the unions have lost the ability to drive up wages and benefits.  Their previous contracts were one of the primary causes of the bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler.  What that means is that a lot of workers will conclude that union dues are not worth it.  Not paying them could be the biggest raise they will get in the short term.