What is Right-to-Work?
In short, the phrase “right to work” refers to an employee’s ability to work for an employer without joining a union or paying agency fees for representation.
How does Right-to-Work… Work?
The key point behind right-to-work is the difference between union membership and union representation. Employees who are members of a union pay dues to the union, can vote in leadership elections, and are represented by the union in contract negotiations and workplace disputes. However, not all employees who are represented by a union are necessarily members or pay dues.
However, contract negotiations and legal representation in workplace disputes are often costly. In order to recover the costs of representing non-members, some states allow private sector unions to charge non-members a fee, usually called an agency or shop fee.
States that prohibit such requirements allow employees to work in a unionized workplace without financially supporting the union, essentially granting them the “right to work.”
The Public Sector
In its unanimous decision of Abood v. Detroit Board of Education in 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld agency fees as a constitutional practice provided that the money collected through agency fees do not fund any ideological or political cause.
In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed its decision of Abood with a 5-4 decision of Janus v. AFSCME.
As a result, the provisions in the labor laws of 22 states were overturned and unions were required to stop deducting representation fees from nonmembers’ paychecks, despite continuing to represent them in collective bargaining negotiations.
The Current Landscape
Currently, 26 states and Guam have enacted right-to-work laws. Labor unions still operate in those states, but workers cannot be compelled to become members as a requirement of their job. On March 24, 2023, Michigan became the first state in decades to repeal right-to-work after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed Michigan Senate Bill 34.