It's Really 'Right-to-Work' for Less

Misguided politicians and their Big Business backers are pushing "right-to-work" legislation in Missouri, New Mexico, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Kentucky and Illinois. They make bold claims that it's the cure-all to protect workers, improve jobs, attract business and boost the overall economy.

But let's stick to the facts.

Right-to-work makes it harder for workers to join labor unions so that they can collectively bargain for better wages and benefits.

Yesterday, during a House Workforce Standards and Development Committee hearing on the proposed Missouri bill, CWA District 6 Vice President Claude Cummings testified that right-to-work "will hurt everybody."

"Communities don't work through issues by trying to destroy the middle class," he said.

Out-of-touch CEOs want us to think that right-to-work legislation is in our best interest, but it's really for theirs. These grossly misnamed, confusing laws are really an attempt to end unions as we know them. If we don't stop these attacks, the middle class will continue to fade away.

Under such laws, working families' quality of life doesn't improve – it plummets. The average worker earns about $5,000 less and receives fewer benefits each year in right-to-work states, according to Census data. Of the 10 states with the lowest minimum wages, eight have enacted right-to-work laws. Twelve of the 14 states with the worst pay gap between men and women are right-to-work states. In states with right-to-work laws, nearly 26 percent of jobs are in low-wage sectors, compared to 18 percent of jobs in other states, according to CFED, an organization working to create economic opportunity that alleviates poverty. The Kaiser Family Foundation found people in right-to-work states are less likely to have job-based health insurance.