“Right to Work” Law means low wages
While for a long time there have been ebbs and flows in the battle between employers and unions, something new has appeared on the battlefield. An old tool—the so-called “right to work” law—has suddenly been sharpened in a new way, as shown by a surprise action of the Michigan state legislature. Not only does that action shed light on the employer-union struggle but on new ways in which state and national governments in the U.S. are openly becoming tools of the corporations against the workers.
In 1947, Congress passed the Taft-Hartley Act, which permits states to adopt “right to work” laws which mean that a person can work in a unionized workplace and receive all the benefits and wage levels without paying dues. “Right-to-work” laws do not, as the short phrase might suggest, aim to provide a general guarantee of employment for people seeking work, but instead, in effect mean the right to work for lower wages. That is what happens when unions cannot collect dues from all employees of a company. “Right to work” laws are really a method of undermining and eventually destroying unions.
Right-to-work laws exist in twenty-four U.S. states, mostly in the southern and western U.S. A comparison of maps showing which states have passed “right to work” laws and which states have lower average household income show that a lower standard of living exists where these anti-worker laws have been adopted.
Workers in Michigan have long been aware of that history. But they were lulled into a sense of complacency by their Republican governor, Rick Snyder. He had publicly announced that right to work would not get his attention in the year 2012. But the unions in Michigan then suffered a major electoral defeat in November as to a proposed law, Proposal 2 which would have changed the Michigan state constitution to guarantee collective bargaining rights. Buoyed by that union defeat, Gov. Snyder did a sudden turnabout, and on Dec. 6, 2012 announced that he did want to see “right to work” laws passed immediately in Michigan.
When workers approach the government to pass laws that would change things in a positive direction, they’re met with stalling, foot dragging, and results that are slow or never occur. Once the governor announced his switch of position, within five days—by Dec. 11, 2012—the Michigan state legislature had passed a “right to work” law, and Gov. Snyder had signed it. When it came to helping corporations, it turned out that laws could be passed with the speed of light.
The unions, having put all their hopes into passage of Proposal 2 with help from the Democratic Party, found themselves caught unprepared for this blitz onslaught. Instead, corporate forces in Michigan, a state which had been a stronghold of unions, triumphed in the blink of an eye.
On Dec. 12, 2012, thousands of union and non-union rallied and protested against “right to work” in the Michigan state capital. They will not accept the corporate drive to crush out economic and democratic rights in this country.
