Monday, December 31, 2012

Right to Work Doesn't Infringe on "Workers Rights"

This has become the repeated meme by Unions and the Left in general: Right to Work legislation, which stops unions from forcing employees from joining the union and paying dues as a requirement of employment, takes away "Workers Rights."

Even a momentary examination of this claim will tell you this is completely bogus. What "rights" are being infringed upon? Can workers no longer join unions in Right to Work states? No, they're still perfectly welcome to join unions.What about the right of unions to collectively bargain for their members. Does Right to Work legislation stop that? Nope. Does Right to Work legislation repeal legal protections for workers like workplace safety laws, overtime pay requirements, minimum wage laws, or any other legitimate union victory? Not even a little bit.

The only thing being "infringed" upon is the ability of Big Labor to force people to join their ranks. As a matter of fact, as the label suggests, these laws gives a new right to the worker: the right to decide IF they want to join the union or not. Workers in these 24 states can now choose whether or not to pay union dues and thus receive union benefits. It's entirely up to them.

Claiming that Right to Work legislation takes away workers rights is like Netflix claiming "if there's no law requiring people to join Netflix, the government is taking away people's ability to have movies delivered to their home by mail!" Nobody is required to join Netflix, but it's available to any adult willing to pay the membership fee. If you agree to join Netflix and pay the monthly membership fee, you get the benefits of membership, namely movies mailed to your hours or streaming online. Not requiring that membership of all adults with televisions and DVD players does not stop anyone from joining Netflix and thus getting the benefits.

Any person in any state, whether Right to Work state or not, who works in auto manufacturing is still welcome to join United Auto Workers. Any teacher in any state, whether a Right to Work state or not, is welcome to join the Teacher's Union. 

In a Right to Work states, workers who are eligible are still perfectly able to join the union. They are welcome to join the union, and thus get the benefits of union membership.  They are also welcome to choose NOT to join the union and thus forgo the benefits of union membership.  It's that simple. Nobody's rights are infringed upon. Period.

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