LANSING — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder signed the controversial Right-to-Work bills into law Tuesday after nearly 13,000 people rallied in the state’s capitol against them the same day. The move makes Michigan the 24th Right-to-Work state in the country.

Right-to-Work laws limit the power of unions by making membership and payment of union dues or fees voluntary for public and private sector employees either before or after hiring. The laws will affect all public and private sector employees with the exception of  police and firefighters who were initially excluded. The laws won’t be fully implemented until after  April 1. 

Opponents of Right-to-Work call it an attack on working class families. 

“It will be damaging. Unions operate on limited resources. Republicans have gone too far with tax proposals and anti-labor laws that hurt working families,” Isaac Robinson, Political Director, of the 14th District Democratic Party Organization said.  

Its supporters say the laws will drive in more jobs, allow businesses to employ additional people, and make union officials work harder and be more accountable.

Snyder is being criticized for initially opposing the Right-to-Work bills when he first campaigned for office.

Many say the laws push the advancement and progress of organized labor and unions back decades. “There will be a strong response to Snyder’s flip-flop on the so called “Right-to-Work” and the Republican Party’s overreaching in general. This extreme set of Republicans are turning back the clock on our rights,” Robinson said. 

A United Auto Worker (L) union member faces a line of police wearing riot gear, who are preventing people from entering the state building with the office of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, in Lansing, Michigan December 11, 2012. Michigan legislators on Tuesday approved laws that ban mandatory membership in public and private sector unions, dealing a stunning blow to organized labor in the home of the U.S. auto industry. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

Robinson will be joining progressives, workers and grassroots activists across Michigan to develop a strategy to put Democrats back in charge in Lansing. 

“To overturn the law in the legislature, we will need to win Democratic majorities in the state senate and house and beat Snyder in 2014,” he said, adding that Democrats and labor unions will look at every option to reverse the laws including legal measures. 

On Monday President Barack Obama spoke out against the laws at the Daimler Detroit Diesel auto plant in Redford saying the laws weren’t about economics, but rather politics. Speaking the President said, “What they’re really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money.” The President also said the laws would take away workers’ rights to bargain for better wages and working conditions.

The laws are a huge blow for organized labor in Michigan, however some union members have admitted to backing the laws and say they’ve been threatened or harassed by their co-workers as a result.

It’s still coming as a major surprise to much of the country that Michigan became a Right-to-Work state. Michigan is the birthplace  of the U.S. auto industry, with about 700 manufacturing plants across the state. The United Auto Workers, one of the country’s most prominent labor unions, was established in Michigan, and reportedly has the fifth highest percentage of unionized workers in the country.

“This law is anti-Michigan. Snyder has ignored our deep labor history in Michigan,” Robinson said. 

Three local school districts canceled classes after learning a vast majority of teachers would be protesting in Lansing including the Taylor School District, Warren Consolidated Schools and Fitzgerald Public Schools. In the Warren Consolidated District close to 500 of its 826 teachers called in saying they wouldn’t be at work. In Taylor about 200 of the District’s 500 teachers reported that they would be using their personal days.

Republicans are being accused of pushing Right-to-Work legislation too quickly without giving Democrats enough time to act. Snyder said the Right-to-Work bills have been pending long enough for people to contact their state legislators and address their opposition, and that there has been extensive discussion about them. 

Civil Rights Leader Jesse Jackson was also in Lansing protesting against the measure. The Capitol was closed to visitors when it reached a capacity of 2,200, and about 10,000 people demonstrated outside. In recent years the Right-to-Work movement has been growing in the United States. Earlier this year Indiana, another industrial state enacted Right-to-Work laws. 

During the protest, supporters of Right-to-Work were attacked when opponents of the law knocked down their tents. Pepper spray was also used by law enforcement officials to calm protesters down. In 2011 Wisconsin enacted laws that also restrict the power of public sector unions.