Michigan is no longer a Right to Work state. The Michigan Right to Work repeal took effect on February 13, 2024, restoring the ability of private sector unions and employers to negotiate contracts that require all workers in a bargaining unit to pay dues or fees as a condition of employment. Public sector workers are in a different position: they still cannot be forced to pay union fees without their consent, because the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Janus v. AFSCME independently bars that practice regardless of state law.
What Changed on February 13, 2024
The 2023 Legislature passed House Bills 4004 and 4005, which together eliminated the Right to Work provisions covering both the private and public sectors. Governor Whitmer signed the repeal as Public Act 8 of 2023.1Michigan Legislature. Senate Bill 34 of 2023, Public Act 8 of 2023 Because the legislation did not carry an immediate-effect provision, it took effect 91 days after the Legislature adjourned on November 14, 2023, which set the operative date at February 13, 2024. Michigan became the first state to repeal a Right to Work law in nearly 60 years.
The restored version of MCL 423.14 now provides that employers and unions “may enter into a collective bargaining agreement that requires all employees in the bargaining unit to share fairly in the financial support of the labor organization,” and that state law “does not prohibit or limit an agreement that requires all bargaining unit employees, as a condition of continued employment, to pay to the labor organization membership dues or service fees.”2Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 423.14 In plain terms, union security clauses are legal again in Michigan.
What the Repeal Means if You Work in the Private Sector
If your workplace is unionized and your collective bargaining agreement contains a union security clause, you can be required to pay dues or fees to keep your job. Not every unionized workplace will have such a clause. It has to be negotiated into the contract. Where one exists, though, opting out of all financial contributions is no longer available to you.
The obligation does not attach the moment you start. Federal law under the National Labor Relations Act gives newly hired employees at least 30 days before any membership or fee requirement can be enforced.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 158 – Unfair Labor Practices After that grace period, if the contract requires it, payment is a condition of continued employment.
You Still Do Not Have to Be a Full Member
Even where a union security clause applies, federal law preserves an important choice. Under what are known as Beck rights, from the Supreme Court’s 1988 decision in Communication Workers v. Beck, you can decline full membership and pay only the share of dues that funds core representational work — collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance handling. You are not required to subsidize a union’s political spending, lobbying, or organizing at other workplaces.4National Labor Relations Board. Union Dues
Unions have to notify covered workers of this option. If you object, the union must provide a breakdown of its spending and charge you only the representational portion. For many unions, that reduced fee still amounts to roughly 80 to 90 percent of full dues, because bargaining and grievance handling account for most of what unions spend money on. It is a meaningful right for workers who support collective bargaining but disagree with their union’s political positions.
What the Repeal Means if You Work in the Public Sector
If you work for a state or local government in Michigan, the repeal does not change your obligations. You cannot be forced to pay union dues or fees without your affirmative consent. That protection comes from the U.S. Constitution, not state law. In Janus v. AFSCME, the Supreme Court held that “Neither an agency fee nor any other payment to a public-sector union may be deducted from an employee, nor may any other attempt be made to collect such a payment, unless the employee affirmatively consents to pay.”5Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center. Janus v. AFSCME
Michigan’s current version of MCL 423.210 does contain language allowing public employers to agree that bargaining-unit employees pay a service fee equivalent to union dues.6Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 423.210 Because Janus is a constitutional ruling grounded in the First Amendment, no state statute can override it. That provision can be enforced only against workers who opt in. Silence or inaction on your part is not consent.
Workers the Repeal Does Not Reach
Two groups of workers sit outside Michigan’s labor relations framework entirely, and the repeal has no effect on them. Federal employees are covered by the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Act, which operates independently of state law. Airline and railroad workers are governed by the Railway Labor Act, which contains its own union security rules and lacks the provision (Section 14(b) of the NLRA) that allows states to adopt or reverse Right to Work laws. If you fall into either category, state-level changes in either direction do not touch your union obligations.
How the Repeal Is Playing Out in Practice
Union membership in Michigan has held roughly steady around the repeal. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported about 581,000 union members in the state in 2024, or 13.4 percent of wage and salary workers. The 2025 estimate came in at about 566,000, or 13.0 percent, though the BLS notes that figure reflects an 11-month average because of a federal government shutdown and is not strictly comparable to prior years.7U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Union Members in Michigan – 2025 Both figures remain above the national rate, which has hovered around 10 percent.
Whether the repeal will change those numbers meaningfully depends on how many contracts get renegotiated to include union security clauses, and how quickly. Existing contracts continue under their existing terms until they expire or are reopened, so the practical impact for any given worker turns on the language of the specific collective bargaining agreement covering their job. If you are unsure whether a union security clause applies to you, your union steward or human resources office can point you to the relevant section of the contract.