The spread of the notoriously misnamed “right-to-work” legislation in the US — most notably in Michigan, the home of the iconic sit-down strikes and effective birth of modern American-Canadian trade unionism — has given confidence to union-bashers in Canada to follow suit.

“Right-to-work” has, of course, nothing to do with guaranteeing anyone a job and everything to do with trying to undermine unions. Its essence is that even if the majority of workers overcome management opposition and establish a union, and even if all workers benefit from what the union negotiates and the union is (as is the case in the US) compelled by law to represent all workers, workers can — unlike taxes — choose to be free riders and not pay dues.

On the other hand, significant sections of the Left have long argued that legislative protections were a double-edged sword, contributing to the institutionalization, bureaucratization, and downfall of the labor movement. If unions were forced to constantly meet their members face-to-face and had to convince each individual to pay dues — as opposed to employers collecting the dues via their payroll systems and sending them on to the union — might it, the argument goes, act as an inadvertent blessing? Might it ultimately renew the labor movement?