Apr. 8—TRAVERSE CITY — The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 498, has one of the last construction union halls left in northern lower Michigan.

The union, based in its building on Blair Townhall Road, just east of the M-37 roundabout, has endured since 1949. That hasn't always been easy, said David Fashbaugh, the local chapter's business manager.

Even now, after the state of Michigan has handed unions two big wins — repealing the 2012 Right to Work law and reinstating a prevailing wage law — workers often get short shrift in the region.

"Labor always takes it on the chin around here, and I don't know why people put up with it," he said.

The recent reforms are a net positive for unions in every industry, he said. Indeed, for the construction trades, in particular, prevailing wage requirements help prevent non-union bidders from undercutting union workplaces on public construction projects, Fashbaugh said.

This change is something he has advocated for in the past. But it only scratches the surface of the issues labor has to overcome, he said.

"When you don't have market share, you don't control the wages," he said. "Up here in Traverse City, unions don't have market share. ... Around here, it's half the pay (for a) view of the bay, and that's the way it's always been."

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the Right to Work repeal and prevailing wage legislation into law late last month. In doing so, she made Michigan the first state in decades to reverse its status as a right-to-work state.

Republicans passed the Right to Work legislation in 2012. The law allowed employees in unionized workplaces to opt out of paying union dues, while still reaping member benefits.

At the time, GOP lawmakers heralded the move as a way to make Michigan a more competitive market for employers, as well as giving employees the freedom to make their own decisions about supporting unions. Proponents of the policy say that's what the state stands to lose in March 2024, when the repeal takes affect.

"A repeal of Michigan's Right to Work law will do nothing but send a signal to current and future business leaders that their investments will now find a less friendly business climate for job growth and return on investment," said Timothy Nash, an economist and director of the McNair Center at Northwood University, in a statement.

But it's been a controversial policy, particularly among union leaders, and research on the effectiveness of the policy remains inconclusive.

Union membership has declined in the state since 2012, from 17.1 percent to 15.3 percent a decade later, according to data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics earlier this year.

While manufacturing wages have increased during that time, data from the Economic Policy Institute, which opposes Right to Work, shows that economic inequality also has increased as union membership has been declining. The share of income claimed by the top 10 percent of earners has been steadily rising in the state, and is currently at about 50 percent — although that trend predated 2012.

Henry Wolf, director of government relations for Traverse Connect, said the Northern Michigan Chamber Alliance declined to take a stance on the repeal of Right to Work.

The Traverse City Munson Nurses Association is one of the most recent unions to form in the area. When it was founded in late 2017, it was the largest successful unionization effort since Michigan became a Right to Work state, and the largest new union to form in any Right to Work state in the preceding five years.

The union last month just finalized a new agreement following contract talks with hospital representatives.

The repeal of Right to Work will allow nurses "to more effectively advocate for our patients and our community on the job and at the bargaining table," said Jamie Brown, president of the Michigan Nurses Association, in a statement.

The Michigan Nurses Association is the statewide union to which the Munson nurses belong.

According to a spokesperson for the union, the Munson nurses anticipated the possibility that the Legislature would repeal Right to Work, and "included a provision that would allow for nurses to have a conversation with Munson Medical Center on the topic."

"While it is anticipated those conversations will happen at some point in the future, given the Legislature's vote to restore workers' rights, nurses are currently primarily focused on implementing their new contract language," according to a statement from the union.

A ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court prevents the repeal from impacting public employees, such as public schoolteachers. Nevertheless, the American Federation of Teachers — Michigan (AFTMI) still supports and rejoices in the repeal.

Gary Wellnitz, Northern Field Representative with AFTMI, said the Right to Work legislation was "punitive" and "absurd." Wellnitz added that Whitmer's decision to sign the repeal is "phenomenal" and that it's a part of a greater effort to undo legislation that has negatively impacted unions on a broader scale in Michigan.

Legislation that makes unions stronger will only encourage more people to pursue teaching careers, which, in turn, will address the teacher shortage that Michigan schools have been struggling with for years, Wellnitz said.

"We need to do something to make this profession desirable again," Wellnitz said. "Part of that is having a voice, particularly in Lansing."

Teachers were shut out during former Gov. Rick Snyder's time in office, Wellnitz said. State legislation passed during Snyder's tenure changed the kinds of benefits teachers can receive as well as what they can talk about and ask for during contract negotiations.

Under Whitmer, Wellnitz said, there is hope that will change, and the Right to Work repeal is a great start.

For the construction industry, the 2018 repeal of Michigan's decades-old prevailing wage law was even more consequential, Fashbaugh said.

The law, which Republicans overturned following a citizens' petition initiative, required that construction firms pay at least union wages to be eligible for state contracts. That essentially meant construction companies could "underbid a union contractor by half a percent and put the other 30 percent in their pockets," Fashbaugh said.

Even if the reinstated prevailing wage law is properly enforced, he said, it might not apply to all publicly funded projects in the region.

Public schools, in particular, often rely on sinking funds for their capital improvements, meaning millage revenue is set aside for certain future expenses, to be allocated as they come up.

Projects financed via sinking funds are not subject to prevailing wage laws, according to Michigan regulations.

Lisa Leedy, executive director of Builders Exchange of Northwest Michigan, also expressed ambivalence as to the effect the Right to Work and prevailing wage legislation would have on the region — although her rationale differed from Fashbaugh's.

"The competitive workforce environment that we're in ... really have kind of leveled that playing field," she said. "I think everybody's suffering from the same challenges, so I don't think it's had as big of a direct worker impact as it would have, because I think everybody's already paying about prevailing wage."

Unions would feel the most impact on the administration side, since the Right to Work repeal would allow them to bring in more funding. In turn, that will likely give those unions more resources to be able to support their members, she said.

"It still gives the worker the choice, though, whether they want to work for a union contractor or non-union," she said.

But Fashbaugh said the actual gap between union and non-union wages is larger than it may appear at face value.

While the rates may be similar, those additional resources provided by the union make all the difference, according to Fashbaugh.

"Outside of a labor union, they typically don't get health care and they don't get a retirement," he said. "So that's a direct reduction in their wages if they take the money out to do that."