If you haven’t heard about so-called “Right To Work” laws yet, get ready, because a bunch of greedy special interests are about to try to convince you that Right To Work is just what you need in your life. These people are lying to you.
Right To Work laws don’t actually have anything to do with workers’ rights at all. They’re really a tactic used by the super-rich to attack one of the few groups strong enough to stand up to the 1% – our unions.
The goal of these laws is to eliminate unions – along with our pensions, step raises, healthcare, and other hard-fought benefits our families depend on. With unions out of the way, greedy corporations can treat workers as poorly as they want – with no consequences.
Want to know more about how Right To Work is bad for workers? Check out these four videos.
Right To Work Encourages Freeriders
Unions make things better for everyone at work. Together in a union, we have a powerful voice to fight for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. And it takes all of us, and all of our combined resources, to win strong contracts that uplift our work and our families. So-called “Right to Work” laws aim to strip us of our collective power by encouraging our co-workers to opt out of paying their fair share – dismantling our membership and sticking the rest of us with the bill.
Right To Work Hurts Workers
The people pushing Right To Work say things like, “Give yourself a raise, leave your union.” What they don’t tell you is that workers in Right To Work states make less than workers in states without Right To Work. Workers in Right To Work states also have worse healthcare, retirement, and working conditions.
Right To Work Is A Scheme By Corporations
There’s a reason that big corporations and greedy special interests like the Koch brothers are pushing Right To Work – it enriches corporations on the backs of workers. Right To Work advocates claim that Right To Work states attract new businesses, and with them, new jobs. However, the reason these businesses move to Right To Work states is because they know they can pay lower wages and treat workers poorly, and no one will be there to stand up to them. In the meantime, all of the good, union jobs in the state disappear – leaving everyone worse off.
Right To Work Hurts Communities
When unions disappear, it’s not just workers who suffer. Right To Work states have higher poverty, higher infant mortality, higher workplace fatalities, and less investment in schools. Without unions to advocate for workers and their families, both in the workplace and the statehouse, the super rich have free rein to strip away everyone’s rights in the pursuit of profit.
So what can you do to fight so-called Right To Work in your workplace? First, you need to get trained. Be on the lookout for Rise & Resist meetings at your jobsite over the coming weeks. These trainings will teach you how to recognize so-called Right To Work schemes and give you the tools necessary to fight back. To learn when the next Rise & Resist training will be held at your worksite or to request a training, contact Member Connection online or by phone at 1-877-721-4YOU.