New Michigan legislature expected to axe RTW

EDITOR'S NOTE: The Democrats ran the table in Michigan Tuesday night, holding the governorship and flipping the state House and Senate. Check out this article from the Michigan AFL-CIO. That "sweeping pro-labor agenda" the article cites is expected to include repeal of the state's "right to work" law. 

LANSING, MI – Today, the Michigan AFL-CIO celebrated an overwhelming victory for labor-endorsed candidates in Tuesday’s election. In this unprecedented and historic wave election, voters delivered a clear mandate for a sweeping pro-labor agenda in the coming legislative term. 

Michigan AFL-CIO endorsed candidates swept all statewide partisan races and upset incumbents at the legislative level, clinching a Democratic majority in both the state House and the state Senate. The wins thus far include 124 labor-endorsed candidates, including 9 candidates who are union members. 

“Michigan’s labor movement helped elect an unprecedented wave of pro-labor leaders on Tuesday. Voters sent a clear message that Michigan is a union state, and we ensured victory for legislators who will support working people,” said Ron BIEBER, President of the Michigan AFL-CIO. “Union members and working Michiganders turned out to vote in record numbers and secured a landslide victory on election night. We now have the opportunity to repair the damage Republican leaders have done to our great state over the past forty years, and we are ready and eager to get to work. Under the continued leadership of Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, and Attorney General Dana Nessel, we will rebuild Michigan for working people.”

On the heels of Michigan’s labor movement organizing heavily for fair maps and redistricting in 2021, the Michigan AFL-CIO executed the largest member-to-member campaign in over a decade. The statewide effort also targeted many competitive seats in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties that have high labor-density per capita – arguably flipping the state House and state Senate on the turnout of union members in those areas.

The Michigan AFL-CIO, Michigan’s largest labor organization, is a federation representing forty different labor organizations, eighteen different central labor councils, and eight constituency groups representing over 1 million union members and their families.