Home / Latest News /
Unions vow political payback for right-to-work law
By The Associated Press
This article was published December 9, 2012 at 2:21 p.m.
- Comments (35)
- aAFont Size
LANSING, Mich. — Labor unions and their Democratic allies acknowledge there’s virtually no chance of preventing right-to-work legislation from being enacted in Michigan this week. But they’re planning to fight to the end — and seek payback at the polls.
The Republican-controlled state House and Senate are expected to put finishing touches as early as Tuesday on bills that would prohibit requiring employees to join a union or pay fees similar to union dues as a condition of employment. Gov. Rick Snyder says he’ll sign them.
Right-to-work supporters say it’s about improving the business climate and giving employees freedom of association. But unions say such laws bleed them of money and power to bargain for good wages and benefits.
Thousands of protesters are expected to converge on the state Capitol in Lansing.
Comments on: Unions vow political payback for right-to-work law
To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers. Read our Terms of Use policy.
You must login to make comments.
LevitiCuss says... December 9, 2012 at 2:35 p.m.
I wonder why it's OK for owners and managers to collude and act collectively via trade and manufacturing organizations, chambers of commerce, etc., in order to gain an advantage over labor, but collective bargaining for labor is a bad thing.
( permalink | suggest removal )
Whippersnapper says... December 9, 2012 at 4:30 p.m.
Forcing folks to pay dues to these organizations is the problem. Unions want to be able to force all employees to pay dues that they then use for these purposes, whether the employees want to or not. Businesses choose whether to participate in chambers of commerce to advance their causes, but those organizations have voluntary participation and voluntary dues/membership. By comparing unions to those organizations, you are actually endorsing the "right to work" approach where union dues are not compulsory.
( permalink | suggest removal )
Jackabbott says... December 9, 2012 at 4:44 p.m.
Well you cant track the decline of the union movement beginning with the Reagan years to the parallel decline in the economy in the USA. Reagan' legacy of unfair trade deals,granting amnesty to illegals, lowering the taxes on the rich and shifiting costs to the middle class and killing off unions has worked for the benefit or the 1%. We never got the "paradise" that was promised, that is one reason for the no growth economy of today with China having all the manufacturing and jobs and the rest of holding the bag.
( permalink | suggest removal )
JakeTidmore says... December 9, 2012 at 4:52 p.m.
EPI: Wages, Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance, And Employer-Sponsored Pensions Are All Lower In Non-Right-To-Work States. From a February briefing paper released by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI):
This briefing paper directly examines the impact of RTW [right-to-work] on the wages and benefits received by workers, both union and nonunion. It does this by examining differences in the wages and benefits workers receive in RTW and non-RTW states. In a regression framework, we analyze the relationship between RTW status and wages and benefits after controlling for the demographic and job characteristics of workers, in addition to state-level economic conditions and cost-of-living differences across states. We find the following:
• Wages in right-to-work states are 3.2% lower than those in non-RTW states, after controlling for a full complement of individual demographic and socioeconomic variables as well as state macroeconomic indicators. Using the average wage in non-RTW states as the base ($22.11), the average full-time, full-year worker in an RTW state makes about $1,500 less annually than a similar worker in a non-RTW state.
• The rate of employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) is 2.6 percentage points lower in RTW states compared with non-RTW states, after controlling for individual, job, and state-level characteristics. If workers in non-RTW states were to receive ESI at this lower rate, 2 million fewer workers nationally would be covered.
• The rate of employer-sponsored pensions is 4.8 percentage points lower in RTW states, using the full complement of control variables in our regression model. If workers in non-RTW states were to receive pensions at this lower rate, 3.8 million fewer workers nationally would have pensions. [EPI, 2/17/11]
( permalink | suggest removal )
JakeTidmore says... December 9, 2012 at 4:53 p.m.
EPI: "Right-To-Work May Undermine Economic Growth By Restricting Consumer Demand." From the April EPI report:
Throughout the unemployment crisis of the past two years, as economists looked to ignite job growth, policymakers and business leaders alike have pointed to consumer demand as the key prerequisite for job creation. In 2009, Business Roundtable Chairman Terry McGraw explained that "behind all these diverse and depressing numbers is one central driving fact: demand has collapsed....To find a path out of today's economic quagmire, [we] must jump start that demand." As we look to support growing sectors of the economy, it is clear that the future depends largely on an economy driven by consumption. Nationally, the top 10 occupations projected to add the greatest number of jobs over the coming decade are almost entirely dependent on either government revenue or consumer spending; they include food service, retail sales, health care, and education.
If states rely on wage-cutting right-to-work laws as a strategy for attracting outside manufacturers, they would undermine wage standards in both manufacturing and other industries, which could inadvertently hamstring job growth by restricting aggregate local economic demand.
For every $1 million in wage cuts to workers, $850,000 less is spent in the economy. Assuming that most of the spending would have gone to rent, food, clothing, and other family needs in local retail and services industries, this constitutes a significant loss of spending exactly when state economies need it most. A loss of $850,000 in local spending translates, on average, into a loss of six jobs in the local community. In this way, weakening union wage standards in order to attract mobile manufacturers raises a concern that job growth might constrict in the much larger industries that have come to dominate most states' economic growth plans. [EPI, 4/5/11]
( permalink | suggest removal )
inquire says... December 9, 2012 at 4:56 p.m.
LevitiCuss, you said exactly what I was going to say!
( permalink | suggest removal )
inquire says... December 9, 2012 at 5:05 p.m.
Many people don't realize that in right to work for less states, the law requires the union to represent ALL employes, not just their members. This means that dues paying members have to pay for representation to file and defend grievances for cheapskate scabby free riders. If you've ever seen a T-shirt that says "get the free rider off my back", that's the kind of thing it refers to. That and the fact that the free riders get the benefits gained by negotiations without paying the dues that make it possible. Union members see scabs as little better than the legendary welfare queen, feeding at the union trough.
( permalink | suggest removal )
LevyRat says... December 9, 2012 at 5:39 p.m.
What is wrong with having the choice of joining a union or not joining a union? What are unions so afraid of, maybe losing their fat paycheck squeezed out of the sweat of someone else?
( permalink | suggest removal )
inquire says... December 9, 2012 at 6:04 p.m.
Why shouldn't scabby free riders be totally on their own instead of getting free representation from dues paying members? Why should they get the higher wages and benefits won through the work and dues of the members?
( permalink | suggest removal )
inquire says... December 9, 2012 at 6:36 p.m.
The same people who can't stand for any of their tax money to go to help anyone are fine with the idea of scabs, who have the same pay and benefits as the dues paying member, getting it all for free--with no monetary contribution or time spent on their part.
( permalink | suggest removal )
NoUserName says... December 9, 2012 at 7:16 p.m.
11% of the workforce is union. Unions don't drive s**t anymore. Except, perhaps, companies into the ground. Jake's data notwithstanding. I'll have to look that paper up. Error margins propagate in statistics. I find it hard to believe they correct for all these factors and yet can be statistically significant at 3%. I worked UFCW union in HS & college. I was nothing but a union cash cow. Picketers made more than me per hour. And no, I couldn't be a picketer. I don't recall why, but we were all ineligible. Probably needed to work minimum hours per year which, as a HS or college student, was impossible. Oh, and while I didn't know it at the time, they pulled some illegal s**t with my hours worked. Needed union help? Watch 'em fold. Yeah. Go union.
( permalink | suggest removal )
inquire says... December 9, 2012 at 10:03 p.m.
If my husband hadn't had a good union manufacturing job, he would have made a lot less money, had poor or no insurance, and wouldn't have the pension we have now. Ask the Walmart workers where their affordable insurance and pension are. Ask them why their wages are so low that many of them qualify for public aid. Or don't. Many of them are so brainwashed they don't know why.
( permalink | suggest removal )
DontDrinkDatKoolAid says... December 10, 2012 at 1:57 a.m.
Oh the luxuries of unions and their benefits. And where in the world would one think of passing those/the cost on down to?
( permalink | suggest removal )
RonalFos says... December 10, 2012 at 8:03 a.m.
Those costs trickle down to the same people that the cost of US CEO pay being 450 times the average worker gets passed to. You don't seem to have a problem with that!
( permalink | suggest removal )
NoUserName says... December 10, 2012 at 8:13 a.m.
inquire, Walmart jobs suck. No denying that. Although, as a point of order, my Grandma was a greeter @ the same time I was a UFCW worker. She was, hands down, treated better than I was. As for manufacturing, no doubt those were good jobs. But those jobs are generally gone. Labor costs are one reason why. I'd love to see all that come back here. I'd love to see wages tick up. But ya know what? Think of that the next time you spend hours trying to find the absolute best deal for the lowest cost. Sorry to say, but shopping at places like Walmart is one reason we're in this boat.
( permalink | suggest removal )
1soni says... December 10, 2012 at 9:25 a.m.
If the U.S. lost manufacturing due to high wages (or unions, labor laws, regulation -- the other commonly cited villains), how do you explain the manufacturing success of Germany and Japan? Germany, the world’s pre-eminent high-end manufacturing economy, has higher wages, stronger unions and stricter labor laws than the U.S.
( permalink | suggest removal )
NoUserName says... December 10, 2012 at 10:26 a.m.
w w w.aicgs. o r g/issue/has-germany-been-successful-running-a-high-wage-manufacturing-sector/
.
After a quick search.
( permalink | suggest removal )
Packman says... December 10, 2012 at 10:42 a.m.
Hey jackabbot - You sure it wasn't Bush's fault?????
Hey Jake - Sorry to burst your ill-advised bubble, but your data is a fallacy filled comparison based on the difference between RTW states and laws that MANDATE employees join and pay union dues via card-check type inducements. LevyRat poses the questions unions always answer with childish diatribes such as the silliness of inquire.
It must also be noted the American business economy is now mainly in the retail and service sectors and not manufacturing. Unions are still trying to operate in the dark days of sweat shop manufacturing. The times have passed them by, and they are too blinded by socialism to see it.
( permalink | suggest removal )
NONSHEEPLE says... December 10, 2012 at 10:49 a.m.
Wrongfull termination issues would be my main concern. Workers can give their all and be fired on a whim? That's a load of crap!
( permalink | suggest removal )
NoUserName says... December 10, 2012 at 11:45 a.m.
On the other hand, a union bus driver who lost her job after KILLING a pedestrian got it back after a union grievance. How did she thank the union? She KILLED another pedestrian. There are Federal laws against various types of wrongful termination.
( permalink | suggest removal )
DontDrinkDatKoolAid says... December 10, 2012 at 12:44 p.m.
Ron it is the value of higher education of why those CEO's command higher pay.
~
( permalink | suggest removal )
inquire says... December 10, 2012 at 1:45 p.m.
There are many kinds of knowledge, Oui. They are all valuable. The next time you need a central heat and air unit for your home or business, maybe you should have all the parts delivered in a kit and see if you can put it together and make it run. Or if that seems too easy, go to a factory and see if you can run the complex machinery of today without causing a disaster. If you master that, then see if you can make a tool or a die that will actually be usable.
( permalink | suggest removal )
inquire says... December 10, 2012 at 1:50 p.m.
Why do conservatives hold any wrong thing connected to any union against all union workers? When a minister is caught in wrong doing, you don't indicate that all churches and ministers are bad and want the churches banned. When a CEO is caught in wrong doing, you sure don't turn again that class of people. When a court makes a questionable decision, you don't propose we get rid of the entire criminal justice system. Why do you hate working people so much? Are some of you trying to deny your working class roots?
( permalink | suggest removal )
JakeTidmore says... December 10, 2012 at 7:53 p.m.
It's amazing how many folks want to cheat their fellow workers and keep them from earning a decent wage. Probably the same folks who were screaming about all those American jobs that got shipped overseas to cheap foreign labor. Either way, you're glad the American worker is getting screwed so you can have your "everyday low prices." Just don't forget that "everyday low wages" are the results of such an attitude.
( permalink | suggest removal )
DontDrinkDatKoolAid says... December 11, 2012 at 2:37 a.m.
Inquire … After retiring from the Navy, I had at one time a red contractors license for home and commercial, and an industrial license for units over a half million Btu's in the HV/AC field. I have also a boiler operators license which is required in the State of Arkansas for this field.
~
While in the Navy, I was a Boiler Technician, and operated boilers with automated controls which pneumatics were used as the medium(s) of force/control. Later on I cross rated to Aviation Hydraulic Mechanic. From this I got my Airframe and Power plant License (A&P) fixed and rotor wing. In my career in the Navy I also learned collateral trades in welding, machining, plumbing, fabrication and yes tool and die.
~
I went to school shortly after retiring and learned Programmable Logic Controls (PLC). So yes I have operated, troubled shoot, and repaired those complex and automated factory machinery.
My point is, if you have marketable skills with experience that are in demand, one can command higher pay.
~
Funny how one can miss extrapolate. It is not the individual in a profession, it is a whole profession (unions) in the employed field.
( permalink | suggest removal )
DontDrinkDatKoolAid says... December 11, 2012 at 3:55 p.m.
"Unions would rather see a company go out of business than end forced unionism. Eastern Airlines and Hostess come to mind. Consider this from the now-defunct Eastern Airlines:
After 686 days on strike against Eastern Airlines, rank- and-file members of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and our supporters registered the final piece of our victory against the union-busting drive of the employers when the carrier folded at midnight on January 18, 1991.
“Victory” for a union is destroying a company and the jobs that go with it."
( permalink | suggest removal )
inquire says... December 11, 2012 at 10:33 p.m.
Jake gets it. You don't. The US worker is not going to be made to live like a Chinese peasant without a fight.
( permalink | suggest removal )
DontDrinkDatKoolAid says... December 12, 2012 at 8:30 p.m.
Jake nor inquire gets it. It is called globalization. Thus ones income in time will be Globally equalized.
( permalink | suggest removal )
BarichMilhusseinObamaNixonPOTUS says... December 12, 2012 at 9 p.m.
So inquire what you are saying is we can buy a cheap non union made kit and have non union labor put it together for us a lot cheaper than buying a union made product put together? I pay non union labor to fix the things I can't and I don't have issues. When we buy from non union steel mills their product is as good or better than the union steel mills. Also in our company the non union plants provide much better service than the union plants, and also make a whole lot more money thanks to employees who never say "no that's not my job". Once again let's look at why JetBlue and Southwest are kicking all the union airlines arse (and they continue to be listed as top companies to work for in the US), and Nucor continues to kick USS and others in the hindside while paying as much or more as they do (oh BTW Nucor has been in business since 1966 and never had a layoff). I'll hang up and listen
( permalink | suggest removal )
BarichMilhusseinObamaNixonPOTUS says... December 12, 2012 at 9:04 p.m.
This headline also says "give us your union dues and we can spend them on political contributions" It must suck to vote for your man and this happens to you; this is proof that our country way overestimates our presidents' power.
( permalink | suggest removal )
NoUserName says... December 12, 2012 at 9:51 p.m.
FYI, Southwest is union (pilots, FA, mechanics). Jetblue's pilots are not. I'm too lazy to see if the FA and mechanics are or aren't.
( permalink | suggest removal )
inquire says... December 13, 2012 at 1:57 p.m.
Holden, you think you know everything about being a union member or a factory worker and you know nothing. I'll have you know my husband's 34 year record at one plant was spotless when he had to retire for health reasons. With the horrible attitude you have toward the working class, there is nothing I can say to educate you because your prejudice is bone deep. I'm through talking to you. It's Christmas and I have no time for people that make me sick.
( permalink | suggest removal )
Packman says... December 13, 2012 at 2:55 p.m.
Hey Holden - "With the horrible attitude you have toward the working class, there is nothing I can say to educate you because your prejudice is bone deep. I'm through talking to you." Congratulations. When all your opponent in a debate has left is ad hominem attacks, you have won. Excellent work. Just wondering, but is bone deep prejudice more painful than the skin, muscle, tendon, or ligament deep variety?
( permalink | suggest removal )
DontDrinkDatKoolAid says... December 13, 2012 at 6:40 p.m.
I got my construction steel from Nucor's Blytheville, Arkansas plant.
~
The contractor that "was" going to do the job said he could get the steel cheaper from foundry x. The next contractor got the steel at a better price and delivery time. Yes from Nucor Arkansas. Good folks there.
( permalink | suggest removal )
BarichMilhusseinObamaNixonPOTUS says... December 13, 2012 at 7:27 p.m.
Packman it is always fun when someone tells me I make them sick. It's also fun when someone tells me I know nothing about unions when I worked for a union company for 9 years. I learned so much and that definitely made me sick. I've never seen so many worthless lazy employees keep their jobs, ever. My employees are great employees who earn their pay. I have one set to get a 13% raise right after Christmas; I bet they will be much happier than any union employee.The problem with unions is they are not paid what they are worth. They are paid some number negotiated for all of them regardless of their contributions. No one can deny that
( permalink | suggest removal )
To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers. Read our Terms of Use policy.