Transcript Document

Understanding the Latest Attack
on Ohio’s Workers
WHO SAID IT?
“We must guard against being fooled by false
slogans, [such] as ‘right to work.’ It provides no
‘rights’ and no ‘works.’ Its purpose is to destroy
labor unions and the freedom of collective
bargaining.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.
WHAT IS “RIGHT TO WORK”?
• “Right to Work” (RTW): laws prohibit union security
clauses in collective bargaining agreements.
• Union security clause: requires all members of the
bargaining unit to pay union dues or agency fees.
• Unions must represent non-members (free riders)
• RTW laws create “representation without taxation”
Lets think about our own
workplace for a moment…..
• If the members in your area
could get all of the benefits of
our union contract but they
could CHOOSE whether or not
they wanted to pay dues, how
many of them do you think
would do so?
RTW’s GOAL TO LIMIT
WORKERS’ RIGHTS
“By making it harder for workers’ organizations to sustain
themselves financially, RTW laws aim to restrict the share
of employees who are able to represent themselves
through collective bargaining, and to limit the
effectiveness of unions in negotiating higher wages and
benefits for their members.”
- Professor Gordon Lafer and Economist Sylvia
Allegretto, describing the primary goals of RTW
ORIGINS OF “RIGHT TO WORK”
• The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 (amending the National
Labor Relations Act of 1935) allowed employers to
openly campaign against unions. This led directly to
private sector union declines.
• Taft-Hartley allowed states to pass
RTW laws
• The law was clearly intended to
weaken unions
RTW’s DISREPUTABLE PAST
“When the Congress of Industrial Organizations [CIO] launched
‘Operation Dixie’ in the aftermath of World War II, with the goal not
just of organizing unions in the states of the old Confederacy but of
ending Jim Crow discrimination, Southern segregationists moved
immediately to establish deceptively named ‘right-to-work’ laws.
These measures were designed to make it dramatically harder for
workers to organize unions and for labor organizations to advocate
for workers on the job site or for social change in their communities
and states.”
- Cap Times, editorial, “Don’t Turn Wisconsin into Wississippi,” Dec. 15, 2010
DISCUSSION IN THE U.S. CONGRESS
IN 1946
US Senator Burnett Maybank (SC), comparing union
organizing to the years after the Civil War:
“During the days of Reconstruction…, the
carpetbaggers and the scalawags… disrupted our
civilization and economy by inciting the colored
people.”
WHAT DO “RIGHT TO WORK”
ADVOCATES THINK OF US?
“What I think will happen is that when it’s clear
that unionism is principally trying to raise taxes,
the appeal of unionism will decline substantially
for everybody except government employees…It
may be possible to…take away some of the special
privileges unions were granted in 1935.”
- Professor Charles Baird, in National RTW video
NATIONAL RTW WANTS TO CRIPPLE
LABOR
• National RTW officials claim unions have too
much power. They want more corporate power.
• RTW laws are designed to make it hard to
organize, and to undermine union fiscal stability.
• http://nrtwc.org/
• http://www.nrtw.org/
www.afscme.org
11
“RIGHT TO WORK” AND PUBLIC SECTOR
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
• Of the 30 states with public sector collective
bargaining, 25 are free bargaining (non-RTW) states.
Only 5 are RTW states.
• 17 of 22 RTW states prohibit public employees from
bargaining.
• 25 of the 28 free bargaining (non-RTW) states allow
public employees to bargain collectively.
WHAT DOES “RIGHT TO WORK” DO TO
UNION DENSITY?
• A RTW law significantly reduces unions’ organizing
ability.
• RTW laws cut union density as much as 5 to 9%.
• The more density goes down, the harder it is to
win agreements which protect middle class jobs.
HOW DOES OHIO COMPARE TO “RIGHT
TO WORK” STATES”?
• Average manufacturing wages in OH = $18.44.
• Average manufacturing wages in RTW states =
$16.80 (roughly 10% less than the OH average).
HOW “RIGHT TO WORK” WAS SOLD IN
OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma adopted a RTW law in 2001. Claims made by
RTW proponents:
• RTW “will lay the foundation for Oklahoma’s golden
age.” – State Rep. Hopper Smith
• “If state economic expansion includes targeting
manufacturing growth, RTW is a prerequisite
• RTW will cause “8 to 10 times as many [relocation]
prospects.” – State Senate testimony
BROKEN PROMISES IN OKLAHOMA
• Manufacturing employment in OK, which had
increased steadily over the 1990s, declined from
177,000 in 2000 to just 123,000 in 2010
• The number of newly arriving or relocating firms
decreased, even in the early 2000s
• “The adoption of RTW in OK had no significant
positive impact whatsoever on employment.”
– Lafer and Allegretto
WHAT DO THE NUMBERS REALLY
SHOW?
Again using Oklahoma as an example:
“None of the measures examined – the state’s
unemployment rate, the number of manufacturing jobs,
relative job growth and unemployment, the number of
firms relocating into the state – provides any evidence
whatsoever that RTW has increased job growth in
Oklahoma.”
- Lafer and Allegretto
NATIONAL STUDIES CONFIRM
OKLAHOMA’S EXAMPLE
RTW:
• Does not generate economic growth.
• Has no influence on new business growth
• Does not create jobs.
• Is correlated with a decrease in wages.
• Hurts workers
The occupational-fatality rate in the construction
industry is 34% higher in RTW states than in “free
bargaining” states.
- Roland Zullo research study, U. of Mich
SO WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW?
• On February 1, Indiana became the 23rd state in the
country and the 1st state in the manufacturing
heartland to enact RTW.
• At the end of 2012, Michigan’s Legislature passed this
anti-worker law too.
And they aren’t stopping there…
• It is possible that this law will be on our ballots this
year or next.
PROPOSED BALLOT LANGUAGE
IN OHIO
Freedom to choose whether to participate in a labor organization
as a condition of employment
Section 22 (A) No law, rule, agreement, or arrangement, shall
require, directly or indirectly, any person or employer to become or
remain a member of a labor organization.
Section 22 (B) No law, rule, agreement, or arrangement shall require,
directly or indirectly, as a condition of employment, any person or
employer to pay or transfer any dues, fees, assessments, other
charges of any kind, or anything else of value, to a labor
organization, or third party in lieu of the labor organization.
TYING IT ALL TOGETHER
• RTW emerged out of 1940s union-busting (which in the
South was allied with segregation).
• Corporate interests seek RTW to weaken unions.
• Studies show that RTW does not boost economic
growth or jobs, but does decrease union density.
• Weaker unions mean lower wages and benefits.
• Here in Ohio, it’s SB5/Issue 2 all over again.