Right to work laws are the biggest misnomer in this nation’s history of naming things. What are they? You may be aware of the labor strife going on in Wisconsin, where bag Republican Gov. Scott Walker has been busy stripping collective bargaining rights from state employee unions. Although right-to-work laws aren’t exactly the same thing as collective bargaining, the concept is similar.
Put simply, right-to-work laws prohibit the payment of union dues and restrict making employees become members of a union as a precondition of employment. Sounds simple enough, but it’s been the largest impediment to widespread unionization in the South.
The Midwest and Northeast, by contrast, are by and large union strongholds. Union housekeepers staffed my dorm at Ohio State University freshman year, for example, among other staff-related jobs. That basically wouldn’t happen anywhere in the South, where unions are nonexistent and protections for workers are thin and sketchy.
Missouri, thankfully, is not a right-to-work state. Right-to-work laws contribute to a free-rider effect. If people can benefit from union protection without having to open their wallets, then they won’t ante up.
Collectively, this poses a large problem when everyone wants a union but nobody wants to pay for it. It’s much easier to organize when dues are, well, due.
Right to work laws in general tend to lower the pay of rank and file workers and benefits once enacted. Proponents of these laws often claim industries are more willing to relocate to states with these laws on the books.
This is probably true. Many industries are attracted to low-cost labor. However, if your company’s sole reason for moving is that you want to pay workers less, chances are the state doesn’t need your business. In a few years, that factory or office is going to China anyway.
Many states right now are in a cash crunch. Right-to-work laws, while protecting corporate profits, do little to fill state coffers. By depressing wages, these laws cut down on income tax revenue. Not only that, workers paid less will generate less money in terms of state sales taxes. You simply can’t buy as much stuff when you don’t have the money to begin with.
Like I mentioned above, right-to-work is a misnomer-it does not prohibit an employer from firing you without cause. So you still don’t literally have the right to work or anything. In fact, most states practice “at-will” employment, meaning your boss can fire you for no reason at all. Your “right-to-work” is just another euphemism for corporate protectionism.
Do we want this for our state? Probably not. There is legislation in the Missouri legislature, which would make the state right-to-work. American labor needs to meet the 21st century needs of a Green Economy. I don’t see right-to-work laws being helpful in achieving that in any way.
