Posts tagged union shop
Testimony: Rachel Greszler: Labor Law Reform Part 1: Diagnosing the Issues, Exploring Current Proposals
October 10, 2025 // SummaryToday’s challenges—from the rise of artificial intelligence to the expansion of independent work and the growing demand for flexibility, autonomy, and new skills—necessitate modernized labor laws that are pro-worker and pro-employer, regardless of the type of workplace. Heavy-handed government interventions and attempts to bring back the 1950s’ ways of work are not the answers. American labor laws should preserve the freedom, dignity, and opportunity that make American work exceptional.
OPINION Why don’t unions have to stand for reelection?
September 16, 2024 // The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 7.4 million workers in the private sector belonged to labor unions in 2023. Yet according to a new study from the Institute for the American Worker, which promotes market-oriented labor reform, fewer than 400,000 of those unionized employees — about 5 percent — have ever voted in an election for the union that represents them. Like me, the vast majority of employees in unionized workplaces were hired after the union had already been voted in. Most unions have never been required to confirm that they have the support of current workers by winning a recertification election. In some workplaces, a lifetime has elapsed — that isn’t hyperbole — since the union was first certified. The United Auto Workers organized General Motors’ Michigan plants in 1937 and has represented the employees who work there ever since. Never once has it had to stand for reelection. What kind of “workplace democracy” is that?
Special Legal Notice to Private-Sector Workers in Michigan
March 27, 2023 // Michigan’s legislative majority and current Governor are unfortunately repealing Michigan’s Right to Work law which granted most private-sector workers a right to not join or pay monies to unions they oppose. This special notice is intended to inform Michigan workers who are employed by private companies, other than in the airline and railroad industries, of their rights after the repeal of the Right to Work law takes effect ninety days after the current legislative session ends.* In short, after the repeal statute takes effect, it will be legal under Michigan law for private-sector employers and unions to enter into agreements that compel workers to pay fees to unions as a condition of employment. However, under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) workers subject to these forced fee arrangements cannot lawfully be compelled to be actual union members or pay full union dues to keep their jobs
Opinion: Starbucks baristas who join a union may not get what they bargained for
April 21, 2022 // Unions historically had little traction in the full- and limited-service restaurant industry. High turnover, combined with a younger workforce that desires flexibility over rigidity, made a poor match for organized labor’s 20th-century-value proposition. Ten years ago, the SEIU made an expensive play to change that, through a campaign called the Fight for $15.
N.C.’s Right to Work law turns 75, experts weigh in on workers’ rights
March 16, 2022 // The Right to Work law, approved in 1947, outlawed requiring union membership as a condition of hiring or of continued employment. It bans the idea of a “closed shop,” in which union membership is a necessary part of getting and keeping a job. The law also bans a “union shop.” In that scenario, an employer can hire nonunion workers, as long as those workers join the union within a certain period. The law also prohibits the mandatory collection of union dues by employers through payroll deductions.