Heritage Foundation: Right to Work Creates Jobs and Choice

On November 14, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff

James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation confirms what we have known for decades, enacting Right to Work laws create jobs and promote choice for workers:

Union contracts frequently require employees to pay union dues or lose their jobs. This forces workers to support the union financially even if the union contract harms them or they oppose the union’s agenda. Several states, including New Hampshire and Indiana, are considering right-to-work laws, which protect workers from being fired for not paying union dues. Unions oppose these laws because they reduce union membership and income. However, the rest of the economy benefits from right-to-work laws.

States can and should reduce unemployment by becoming right-to-work states.

Right-to-Work

Unions often negotiate contracts requiring all workers to pay union dues or lose their jobs, whether or not they support the union. But many workers reject unions. Some do so because union contracts reduce their pay. Others oppose unions’ political agendas: Unions almost exclusively support Democrats, despite 37 percent of their members voting Republican in the last election.[1]

To prevent workers from being forced to support unions financially, 22 states have passed right-to-work laws. Such laws prevent companies from firing workers who do not pay union dues. Workers may still pay voluntarily, but unions cannot threaten their jobs if they do not join. Lawmakers in several states, including New Hampshire, Indiana, and Michigan, are considering right-to-work bills.

Forced Unionization Is Not an American Value

The government should not force workers to pay for unwanted union representation. In a free society, workers alone should make that choice. Right-to-work laws also make good economic sense. They reduce the incentive for union organizers to target companies that treat their workers well. Since unions hurt businesses, less aggressive union organizing attracts investment—and jobs.

Lawmakers considering right-to-work proposals should ignore the union movement’s self-interested opposition. Unions could negotiate contracts that apply only to their members—they simply prefer not to. Unions should not be able to force workers to choose between financially supporting them and losing their jobs.

Unions Lose Money When Workers Opt Out (more…)

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Posted in: Boeing, Do Union Bosses Speak, Economic Development in RTW States, Economic Impact of Unionization, Economics, Exclusive Representation, Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Legislation, Monopoly Bargaining, Right to Work, Right To Work States, So-called "Fair Share", State Right To Work
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Washington Post Pushes Mitch Daniels for Republican Presidential Nominee, Rush Limbaugh Expresses Doubts

On May 10, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, who recently caved-in to fleeing Democrat lawmakers by giving away freedom in exchange for continuing Big Labor compulsion, receives a glowing Washington Post blog post while Rush Limbaugh is dubious:

RUSH: I’m just sick and tired of Democrat Party and the media picking our candidates. They picked McCain. They picked Dole. I’m tired of it. I don’t care who the candidate is, I’m sick of Democrats picking them, because I know they’re not gonna pick somebody that can win. That’s the whole point.

Headline: “Mitch Daniels: The Man Who Could Reshape the Republican Field.” Okay, I think Chris Cillizza wants Obama to be reelected. I know Chris; he works at it Washington Post. Chris Cillizza is like everybody else in the main stream media: He doesn’t want a conservative to be elected. So here we get a piece in the Washington Post telling us that the only chance we really have as Republicans is if Daniels is the nominee. Sorry, folks, it’s the messenger here that is alerting my antennae — and in this piece is a quasi-endorsement of Mitch Daniels from none other than Obama!

What I saw Thursday night at the debate does not lead to our defeat. This story tells me it does. This story tells me that that will cause us to lose, and therefore somebody who would not have sounded that way Thursday night is the only one that can win — and in today’s case it happens to be Mitch Daniels.

It’s time to get serious now? Well, given the source, I read that is a giant slam. That’s an insult. That is a profound insult, and I consider the source: Where is it coming from? (more…)

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Posted in: 2010 Union Member Poll, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Indiana, Intimidation Tactics, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining, Public Employees, Right to Work, Right To Work States, State Right To Work, State RTW
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“Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm Makes the Case for Right to Work Laws”

On May 3, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff

Matt Mayer of the Buckeye Institute debunks the long-term economic growth without Right To Work freedom is sustainable. Mayer uses a Columbus Dispatch reporter Joe Hatlett column that featured Former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm to expose the fact that corporate welfare and reduced regulations ignore the “proverbial elephant in the room weighing down” compulsory union states like Indiana, Ohio, Illinois,, and Michigan.

From Matt Mayer’s post:

“With Michigan bleeding jobs and tax revenues, Granholm said she followed the corporate playbook in her attempt to close a huge state budget deficit and make Michigan more competitive. ‘In listening to the business community, I cut takes [sic] 99 times, and I ended shrinking government more than any state in the nation. In my two terms, I cut more by far than any state in the nation. And yet, we still have the highest unemployment rate.

There was no correlation.’ Granholm conceded that streamlining business regulations and lowering taxes — Kasich’s economic recovery mantra — are helpful, but they aren’t a panacea…[l]abor costs, help with start-up costs and proximity to markets are other factors.”

Hallett and Governor Granholm fail to mention why streamlining regulations and lowering taxes aren’t helping the northern states (located within 50 percent of the U.S. population and with low start-up costs) compete against the southern and western states. Instead, Hallett ignores the obvious answer and pleads for an end to corporate pork (with which we enthusiastically agree).

The reason Michigan and Ohio can’t compete is that the southern and western states already have fewer regulations and lower taxes, so “catching up” with those states still leaves the proverbial elephant in the room weighing down the northern states. Plus, those states are also pushing for lower taxes and fewer regulations, so the northern states are perpetually behind them. The elephant, which Governor Granholm does hint at, is labor costs, or, more specifically, unionized labor costs (see: General Motors and the United Auto Workers).

As I noted in Six Principles for Fixing Ohio, “Of course, tax and regulatory burdens also impact a state’s economy. Although many of the forced unionization states have heavy tax burdens and many of the worker freedom states have light tax burdens, some heavily taxed worker freedom states (Idaho, Nevada, and Utah) had the strongest sustained job growth from 1990 to today.

Similarly, a few moderately taxed forced unionization states still had weak job growth (Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri). The combination of both a heavy tax burden and forced unionization is deadly when it comes to job growth, as 11 of the 15 worst performing states are ranked in the top 20 for high tax burdens.” If Ohio and the other states from Missouri to Maine want to truly compete with Texas, Georgia, and South Carolina, then those states need to enact laws that protect the rights of workers not to join a labor union to get a job. (more…)

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Posted in: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Economic Development in RTW States, Economic Impact of Unionization, Economics, Florida, Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Georgia, Government Grants to Unions, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, NLRB, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Public Employees, Rhode Island, Right to Work, Right To Work States, South Carolina, South Dakota, State Right To Work, State RTW, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
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AFL-CIO Boss Trumka Declares “Unlikely Victory” in Indiana

On April 5, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff

The cards were stacked in favor of workers and against the union bosses in Indiana before Gov. Mitch Daniels decided to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. His work to kill the effort to give Indiana workers Right to Work protection allowed AFL-CIO boss Richard Trumka to declare victory. From the Talking Points Memo:

Trumka told TPM at a roundtable with reporters that despite the hardships he said were faced by union workers, labor supporters and Democrats in general in Indiana, progressive-leaning politicians in the Hoosier state were able to pull off the upset win.

“I mean, they knocked out right to work,” Trumka said, referring to the AWOL state House Democrats, who returned to Indianapolis after winning concessions from the majority GOP.

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Posted in: Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Intimidation Tactics, Legislation, Political Activity
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The Indiana Right To Work Ad: Daniels and Bosma

On March 23, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff

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Posted in: Government Grants to Unions, Indiana, Intimidation Tactics, Legislation
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The Real Issue in the Government Worker Union Battle

On March 9, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff

NRTW President Mark Mix from the Investor’s Business Daily:

In Wisconsin, union officials — with support from the Obama White House — continue to orchestrate illegal teacher strikes, lead angry mass protests at the state capitol and picket the residences of legislators to safeguard Big Labor’s government-granted monopoly bargaining power over hundreds of thousands of Badger State public employees.

Raucous union rallies and intimidation of elected officials and their families in support of Big Labor’s purported “right” to unchallenged monopoly bargaining control are occurring in other states as well.

Americans learning about organized labor’s battles in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and other states from TV, radio and newspaper reports may understandably be confused about what is at stake, especially if they have no personal experience with unions themselves. From afar, it’s easy to draw the conclusion that public employees’ right to join a union is at stake.

But that is hardly the case. Public employees’ freedom to join and pay dues to labor organizations is already legally protected across the U.S. and is not being challenged anywhere. What reform-minded elected officials are seeking to curtail, and in some cases even abolish, is government union chiefs’ legal power to force public servants into a union as a condition of employment.

Under the current labor laws of nearly half of the states, government union officials have been explicitly authorized to force all public employees in a workplace to pay union dues or be fired, as long as a majority of their fellow employees (among those expressing an opinion) support unionization.

Such forced-unionism laws, which Big Labor is now fighting furiously to keep on the books in the face of increasingly intense public opposition, actually trample on, rather than protect, employees’ freedom to make personal decisions about unionism. (more…)

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Posted in: Economic Impact of Unionization, Economics, Elections, Forced Dues, Forced-Dues for Politics, Government Grants to Unions, Intimidation Tactics, Legislation, Op-Ed, Political Activity, Public Employee Monopoly Bargaining
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Capitulation Failed

On March 8, 2011, By NRTW Committee Staff

After capitulating to the union bosses, Gov. Mitch Daniels failed to buy peace. Democrats bolted the state despite Daniels efforts to kill a Right to Work bill where they remain. Now the union bosses are rallying to kill several other bills and say they won’t return until their demands are met. The GOP Speaker says He “won’t be bullied” except over Right to Work legislation and by his own Governor.

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Posted in: Government Grants to Unions, Intimidation Tactics, Labor Organizations, State RTW
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