LANSING - The Michigan Republican Party has come out of the closet with their desire to eradicate the state's unions.

There's no other way to interpret what happened Feb. 15-16 at the Michigan Republican Convention. At that event, delegates apparently approved item "No. 3" on the slate of state convention issues.

It reads simply: "The Michigan Republican Party supports Right-to-Work [legislation] and Paycheck Protection from personally unauthorized deductions."

The communications director for the State Republican Party did not return our phone call seeking to confirm passage of that plank in the GOP platform. But state political pundit Jack Lessenberry wrote on Feb. 20, "Republicans agreed on two other positions that made it clear that the party that once liked to call itself a big tent is now fast becoming a hardened little sect. If you are a union member or sympathizer, know that they adopted this language. 'The Michigan Republican Party supports Right-to-Work and Paycheck Protection from personally unauthorized deductions.'

"That means union-busting," Lessenberry continued. "That would mean outlawing a union shop and would mean no automatic deduction of union dues. Practically speaking, it would mean all existing unions would be destroyed."

The new plank in the Michigan Republican platform represents, publicly anyway, a monumental shift in policy, but its passage was virtually ignored by Michigan's print and broadcast outlets.

"This is definitely a change in one of their boilerplate issues," said Mark Gaffney, president of the Michigan AFL-CIO. "This action by the Republican Party in Michigan would have the result of decreasing pay for millions of Michiganders. The average difference in pay for workers in right-to-work states and non-right-to-work states is about $6,000. I don't think the average Michigan family can afford that."

Even when the state government was completely controlled by Republican Gov. John Engler and Republican majorities in the state House and Senate, efforts to institute a right-to-work law or even the elimination of the state's prevailing wage law never got off the ground.

And a so-called "Paycheck Protection" law, which is a more recent phenomena, would present major, expensive bookkeeping requirements on unions to document and report the spending of nearly every dollar of members' dues. The effort isn't prompted by a benevolent public policy effort to increase financial transparency for unions - it's intended to make sure unions spend more money on accountants than on political action.

"Republicans have been pushing this stuff for the last two years with floor speeches and legislation they've been introducing," said State Rep. Doug Bennett (D-Muskegon), formerly business manager of Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Local 174. "I think they're nuts to support right-to-work. My question to Republican lawmakers is, 'are you really serving the people who put you in office?' People in right-to-work states die sooner, their worksites are less safe, they make less money, and they spend less on health care. How are the people who put you in office going to better off under right to work?"

Conservative calls to make Michigan a right-to-work state have intensified over the past year, as our state's economy has continued to slide. There is legislation currently on the books by State Rep. Jacob Hoogendyk, Jr. (R-Portage) and Kevin Elsenheimer (R-Bellaire) who have introduced a two-bill legislative package that would make Michigan a right-to-work state.

Organized labor in Michigan doesn't expect right-to-work legislation to go anywhere soon, with Democratic Jennifer Granholm holding a veto pen and Dems holding a majority in the state House.

So far, the concept of introducing RTW legislation in Michigan has come from groups like the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the national Right-to-Work Committee.

Not all state Republicans approve of the right-to-work language, including state Sen. Randy Richardville (R-Monroe), a moderate who has been invited to speak at Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council conventions.

"I don't support right-to-work," he said "People forget about the good that unions do. A lot of unions, including the building trades, find that I'm quite reasonable and easy to work with on their issues."

As we pointed out earlier this year, conservatives are eventually expected to make the push for RTW in Michigan via a petition drive, with a campaign of misinformation. Organized labor in Michigan, with the help of 3,500 volunteers, stopped any such petition effort before it got off the ground on our state's primary day, Jan. 15.

Right-to-work laws have been adopted in 22 states - but since the 1970s, there have been only two adopted - in Oklahoma (2001) and Idaho (1986). Such laws allow workers in a bargaining group to opt out of paying union dues, yet still enjoy the benefits of union membership. Such laws have never failed to diminish union clout.

"Right-to-work isn't the answer for Michigan," Bennett said. "I don't know what the hell Republicans are thinking."