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We at the National Right to Work Committee are fighting at many levels to protect America's working men and women's right to decide for themselves whether or not a union deserves their financial support.
Whether it be in the state and federal legislatures, the courts, or hearing rooms at the FEC or the NLRB, we fight to ensure that workers join unions because they want to – not out of fear or federal mandate.
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Photos from H.R. 500 National Right to Work Act Hearing
U.S. House Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Workforce, Empowerment, and Government Programs
FOR RELEASE: September 9, 2005
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» National Right to Work Act
U. S. Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Right to Work President Mark Mix confer as they wait for the hearing on H.R. 500, the National Right to Work Act to begin.
On Thursday, September 8, 2005, at 10am, U.S. House Committee on Small Business Subcommittee on Workforce, Empowerment, and Government Programs Chairman Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) along with Ranking Member Daniel Lipinski (D-IL) called to order a hearing on "Freedom in the Workplace -- An Examination of a National Right to Work Law."
Panel members Mark Mix - President of the National Right to Work Committee, Dr. Charles Baird - Professor of Economics at California State University, East Bay, and George Leef, Director of the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy listen as H.R. 500 lead sponsor Representative Joe Wilson (not shown) testifies on behalf of the National Right to Work Act.
In his testimony, National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix broke the Right to Work issue down to its basic elements: "America was established as a free society. And all working Americans should be guaranteed the right to decide for themselves whether a union deserves their financial support. That right is guaranteed by the American Constitution, and legislative attempts to deny that right must be nullified."
George Leef, Director of the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy in Raleigh, North Carolina and author of a recent book on the history of the Right to Work movement, Free Choice for Workers, testified on the origin and provisions of the National Labor Relations Act, the keystone in federal labor policy.
Charles W. Baird, Ph. D, questioned about the First Amendments principle of freedom of association and the, in his words, "vacuous" free rider argument, "wholeheartedly" endorsed H.R. 500 and recommended its "speedy" enactment.
Following the Right to Work Hearing on September 8, Stan Greer, Senior Research Associate for the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, former National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Fred Feinstein, eminent economist Charles Baird, and Right to Work President Mark Mix continued the discussion of "exclusive representation" which was cut short during the hearing by time limitations.
For more information about the hearing, click here.