In the midst of the detrimental United Auto Workers strike that has threatened high-paying jobs and jeopardized the survival of America’s most storied automobile companies, Tennessee has a message for the "Big Three": We are open for business.

Here in Tennessee, we know how to protect workers and foster job growth. The Volunteer State was one of the first states in the nation to protect the "right to work," giving every worker the freedom to choose whether to join a union in 1947. Last year, we enshrined that right in our state constitution, so worker freedom is safe no matter which party holds power.

By creating a collaborative, instead of a competitive, relationship between the state and unions, automakers and workers alike know our state is pro-business and pro-worker, and automakers have responded by moving to Tennessee. Whether it's General Motors in Spring Hill, Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Nissan in Smyrna, or Ford’s new plant in Stanton, it is clear: The Volunteer State is the best place to start and grow a business.

While the UAW strike has several causes, it shows the inevitable consequence of putting union special interests ahead of the workers unions claim to represent. The Big Three — General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis — have their biggest presence in states that have unfairly given unions power over workers. That includes Michigan, which all three automakers call home.

Earlier this year, Michigan’s state legislature and governor took away workers’ freedom to decide whether to pay a union, just a decade after protecting it. Michigan also doesn’t do anything to protect workers’ right to a secret ballot when voting on union representation. A study by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and its Workers for Opportunity initiative showed that when this right is not protected, unions are allowed to intimidate workers.

The “us vs. them” mentality of the UAW has created an antagonistic relationship between workers and the automakers’ management, leading to outrageous demands that aren’t in their members’ best interests. Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis will not survive if they have to pay people not to work or offer outdated retirement plans that lead to bankruptcy. Workers deserve better than this. They deserve to have a collaborative relationship with automakers — the kind that leads to both higher wages for workers and stronger competitiveness for companies.

That’s why more automakers should look to expand and hire in Tennessee, where we put worker freedom first.

By all accounts, workers in Tennessee are thriving, with wages rising faster than they are in states such as Michigan. In fact, for the first time in our history, the South’s GDP has surpassed the once-powerful Northeast’s GDP. Further, the workforces in right-to-work states such as Tennessee were among the first to recover from the pandemic and have actually grown by 3.4 million people (a 4.4% increase). In contrast, non-right-to-work states’ employment declined drastically. This is a direct result of pitting workers against job creators.

But not in Tennessee. In the Volunteer State, we believe in fostering thriving businesses while creating and expanding high-paying jobs. Our state is attractive to automakers and autoworkers alike because of our low taxes and right-to-work laws.

In Tennessee, we have some of the most successful automakers and autoworkers in the nation despite unions, not because of them. We won’t stand for the intimidation and coercion that unions use to gain permanent control over workers. That ultimately leads to the self-defeating strike we see right now. Other states paved the way for the UAW’s disastrous activities by succumbing to union bosses’ demands. Tennessee will never give in to the dangerous tactics weaponized by union dictators.

The longer these disastrous strikes continue, the more likely it is that the Big Three will struggle to survive, threatening the very workers the UAW forced into picketing. A longer strike could lead to massive layoffs for workers in Tennessee, with downstream effects of plant walkouts in other states. If this happens, it’s further proof of the damage caused by giving labor unions unfettered control over workers.

Over the past decade, the policies from liberal administrations put workers behind the eight ball. But Tennessee has chosen a better road, by empowering workers and driving economic growth. Under Republican leadership, we have lowered taxes, cut red tape that hurts businesses, and taken steps to enhance worker freedoms. That’s why the Big Three — and every automaker, for that matter — should consider moving even more plants and jobs to the Volunteer State.

It matters who governs, and with conservative leadership comes economic growth and prosperity.

Cameron Sexton is speaker of the Tennessee House of Representatives.