LANSING, Mich. — Right to Work was signed into law more than a decade ago in Michigan, and now, legislators are working to repeal it.
The Michigan House voted Wednesday evening to approve a package of bills which would repeal the Right to Work law.
The law makes it illegal for public and private unions to require non-union employees to pay union fees.
Under the law, those non-union employees are still legally entitled to benefit from collective bargaining agreements, despite their status as a member of the union.
This comes after the Michigan House Committee on Labor passed a set of bills that would repeal Right to Work Wednesday morning.
Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes released a statement Wednesday night slamming state representatives who did not vote to repeal Right to Work.
"Today, Michigan democrats delivered and working families won. Every worker deserves the right to collectively bargain and every worker deserves to be paid a fair wage, and House democrats took us one step closer to restoring those basic rights in Michigan. These newly restored rights will be critical to building an economy that works for everyone throughout our state.
"Meanwhile, republicans continue to put big corporations first and working people last while doing everything they can to deny Michiganders their basic rights. Despite what they say on the campaign trail, they refuse to stand up for working people. They have time and again fought against commonsense steps to raise wages, protect workers and keep workplaces safe and we will hold them accountable next November."
House republicans argued Wednesday that the public showed its support of Right to Work when voters rejected a 2012 constitutional amendment which aimed to protect the right to organize and bargain collectively.
Additionally, they said democrats were rushing through the issue and republicans wanted to debate it more.
