Freedom of Association Requires an Obligation of Fair Share
Right-to-Work laws are a direct attack on the fundamental right of freedom of association. They are a veiled attempt to weaken or remove unions from the bargaining table. Unions are free associations of men and women who come together to better their lot in life collectively. Unions are democratic organizations that operate under majority rule much like that of your Federal and State governments. Right-to-Work laws would be analogous to a law that said those who do not agree philosophically or politically with elected government officials need not pay taxes for services provided by the government or follow any laws with which they personally disagree and passed by these same officials chosen to represent democracy in action. Unions represent the most fundamental right of freedom of association. They are an association of men and women who come together for the purpose of bargaining collectively on dignity issues concerning hours, wages, and conditions of employment.
Employee Organizations Must Represent All Employees Fairly And Equitably
The designation of union as exclusive representative carries with it great responsibilities. The tasks of negotiating and administering a collective bargaining agreement and representing the interests of employees in settling disputes and processing grievances are continuing and difficult ones. They often entail expenditure of much time and money. The services of lawyers, expert negotiators, economists, and a research staff, as well as general administrative personnel, may be required. Moreover, in carrying out these duties, the union is obliged to 'fairly and equitably to represent all employees.' A union-shop arrangement has been thought to distribute fairly the cost of these activities among those who benefit, and it counteracts the incentive that employees- might otherwise have to become 'free riders' -- to refuse to contribute to the union while obtaining benefits of union representation that necessarily accrue to all employees.
Right-To-Work (for Less)
Since the 1940s when free association within unions became easier to obtain by workers, there has been a movement which wants to destroy this very fiber of our democratic society. Coining the term of Right-To-Work was their first step in misleading the public and forging together a multi-million dollar industry in the art of deception. The first fact about this industry is that there is no guarantee of everyone having a right to a job or for that matter a right to anything else. What they don't say is that states with these laws are at the bottom rung of the social and economic scale compared to states who maintain a fair bargaining atmosphere for their citizens.
States which subscribe to these pundits of fiction have social ills which they are not proud of. They have weaker educational systems from elementary through higher institutions of learning. Operating on a budget of over $9 million per year the proponents of Right-To-Work (for less) laws have lead the way for one of the longest running scams that this Nation has ever seen in its history. They refuse to substantiate their slogans with solid research and verifiable data. The social fiber of the states that enacted these laws, are slowly deteriorating, which can be shown by social indicators such as; infant mortality, violent deaths among teens, children living in poverty and on and on. Just name a social indicator and you will find the "for less" lagging behind the free bargaining states in striving for a higher quality of life for their citizens.
The reason for the (for less), added by supporters of a free and democratic system with wage earners in a state, is because that is exactly what happens to wage earners when these laws are enacted ... they make less! The right-to-work (for less) states have lower earnings no matter how you look at it. You can look at individual tax returns, department of labor average wage statistics, census data and etc ... the wage earner in free bargaining states earns more and produces more than his fellow workers in a "for less" state. State governments suffer when they have an eroding base to tax. Business suffers when education cannot stay in step with the changing economy and the skilled labor slowly erodes to unskilled.
When the pundits "for less" say they will bring in new industry and increase the standard of living for your citizens, then ask ... Why do the current states with the law lag far behind those without it? Keep in mind it is a business for these pundits to keep this issue stirred up within our state. In fact countless after countless surveys among industry ranking the reasons for locating in a particular place, do not even rank right-to-work (for less) as one of the top fifteen reasons. The pundits, after spending millions can, at best, make it to the 19th spot. Surveys of industry say they are looking for; ideal infrastructure, location, education, quality of life and most importantly ... a skilled labor force.
The AFL-CIO opposes any form of so called right-to-work (for less) on the basis that it is both bad public and economic policy. |
