This is just sad. Two more states are joining the ranks of "right to work" states. Indiana has already passed its law (for the second time -- they did it years ago and it was repealed a few years later), and Michigan is in the process of passing their. The Michigan governor, who said he had no plans to do this during the campaign, said he has now "changed his mind" and is asking the legislature to to pass a "right to work" law -- and that law has already cleared the Michigan House on a 58 to 52 vote.The Republicans are claiming this is an issue of "freedom of choice", giving a worker who hires into a union job the choice of whether to join the union or not. The truth is that it has nothing at all to do with choice. It is just an effort to weaken (and eventually destroy) the union movement. It lets workers reap the benefits won by unions without paying union dues or joining union members in strikes or other actions.
The only real power a union has is in its solidarity -- its ability to include all of the workers in a company. If a significant portion of workers do not join the union, then the union loses much of its power -- and it is unable to protect the workers as far as wages, benefits, safety, fairness, and other issues are concerned. And when the union loses power, all workers have less (or no) protection from employers.
Too many people these days seem to think that employers are good-hearted and will always provide the best pay and benefits possible, and make sure that employees are treated fairly and have a safe working environment. That is simply not true. Employers are in the business of making money (not protecting employees), and if they can make another nickel by abusing employees they will do it. All you have to do is look at history to know this. No employer ever provided anything for their employees that they weren't forced to do by unions (or the fear of being unionized).
The truth is that "right to work" is just Republican code for the right to bust unions and give more power to employers. And the chart above shows what happens in states that adopt such laws. Workers in those states have lower wages, less benefits, and less job safety. In addition, those states have a higher rate of poverty, since companies are not made (by unions) to pay a fair and livable wage.
It is time for workers to wake up and realize that the only thing they have to sell is their labor, and the only protection they have to get a fair value for that labor is a union. That is just a fact. The Republicans are just showing once again that they don't care about workers. They only care about the rich and the corporations, and if abusing workers will put a few more dollars in corporate bank accounts, then Republicans will happily help the corporations do it.
