What is "Right to Work?"

[Omaha Steve]

[handmade34]

1. "doublespeak"

[loli phabay]

2. i thought it was no closed union shops.

Ive worked union and non union. Personally there should be unions but you dont have to join if you dont want to.

[Brickbat]

3. Closed shops are outlawed under Taft-Hartley.

[loli phabay]

5. thanks didnt know that.

[Omaha Steve]

6. It is up to the individual states

Blue states don't have right to work.

[doc03]

10. Notice it is fairly similar to the electoral map n/t

[Rob H.]

12. Surprised MT isn't a right-to-work state

Then again, they're a red state with a Democratic governor and US Senators.

Edited to add: one of my uncles in Great Falls was a union worker before he retired and I think a lot of the people he knows are pro-union, so that may be one of the reasons why it isn't a right-to-work state.

[Cha]

16. I'm surprised about Alaska.. thanks Steve

[Libertas1776]

27. Alaska is 3rd in union membership

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_affiliation_by_U.S._state (as of '08, while membership numbers have gone down across the board i am sure the rankings still hold up)

[awoke_in_2003]

20. I think Michigan just flipped. nt

[xmas74]

26. Missouri is actually in a grey zone

We aren't right to work but we don't offer the same rights as a "worker's rights" state, either. We're somewhere in the middle, though a Repub-led state house has been pushing for a turn to right to work.

[femrap]

31. Why did I

think KY was 'right to work?' Did it change of late? I remember applying at Amazon and they made a big to-do about it...but maybe they were just lying to deter me....after all a woman engineer isn't exactly welcome. I worked at Peterbilt Trucks for a short time....was cornered by the workers a few times. It was as if mgt. had encouraged them to do so. No biggie. Ended up at the Devil's Institution of Bechtel...working on Arab projects. I didn't work very hard.

[doc03]

9. I don't think Taft-Hartley has anything to do with closed shops. It must be up

to the states, I worked 40 years in a closed shop in Ohio.

[Omaha Steve]

30. It is one sentence in Taft Hartley that allows states to decide on right to work

Nebraska was one of the first right to work states after Taft Hartley. They put it in the state constitution.

Take that one sentence out of Taft Hartley, and there is no right to work exemption.

[doc03]

8. I worked in Virginia (a Right to Work state) we had one person out of about 50 in our

plant that refused to join the union or pay union dues. Before I stared there they had a short strike and the guy crossed the picket lines. He got all the benefits we got and demanded all the rights we had and paid nothing, you think that is right?

[ananda]

4. It's an anti-union law.

Workers have no collective-bargaining rights.

[ashling]

7. Right to work

Right to work = employment at will = right to fire.

[Marta Steele]

13. sequitur?

my PR person sez: If only rocks could vote . . . (thinking of all those rocks in Montana)

[Starry Messenger]

11. Equals Red state.

Indiana flipped from blue to red after becoming right to work recently. It makes me literally ill to think of Michigan losing union power.

[Cha]

14. Freaking 1984 Big Brother Koch Lingo.

[tiredtoo]

15. This incedent in Michigan reminds me of what happened in Wi.

A few years ago. The plutocrats have placed their puppets in many state legislators/governors offices. This is of course a result of the tea party gang. It is a damn shame and hopefully we can work together to throw the bums out next election. In closing I say to those that supported these scoundrels "be careful what you wish for."

[stupidicus]

17. the right to freeload

something rightwingnuts supposedly object to

[OldDem2012]

19. Just curious, but who are you aiming at with your post? nt.

[stupidicus]

29. the top poster. Who else?

the "right to work" laws I assumed he's referencing, are all about saddling the unions with the time, effort, and expense of defending scabs like they do their union brothers and sisters.

Opponents argue that right-to-work laws restrict freedom of association by prohibiting workers and employers from agreeing to contracts that include fair share fees, and so create a free rider problem.[15][16] The absence of fair share fees forces dues paying members to subsidize services to non-union employees (who are bound by the terms of the union contract even though they are not members of the union). Thus, these individuals benefit from collective bargaining without paying union dues.[15][17]

any other questions

[rDigital]

23. Huh? nt

[nicky187]

18. Right to Work ...

Ownership propaganda used to sell their preferences to stupid people, versus exercising your right to organize under collective bargaining.

[rDigital]

21. LOL

I read the title as a question that needed an answer. I'm thinking I'll be clever and say "The right to work for less!", alas you've beat me to it.

Union Yes.

[dcmfox]

22. Passed it in Idaho back in the early 80's and

been shit wages ever since.

[ReRe]

25. RIGHT TO BE A SLAVE...

... that's exactly what it means. Modern slavery and nothing less. All in poverty with no way out. All on medicaid and food stamps. This country is looking more like Upton Sinclair's THE JUNGLE all the time. All NOT going to have a good Christmas. All represented in that PBS (Frontline?) doc on Poverty a few weeks ago. Ken Burns needs to get to work on this.

[Xipe Totec]

28. It means you have the right to quit, and your employer has the right to fire you

For good reason, bad reason, or no reason at all.

I know.

I was trained as a supervisor in Texas.

[Zoeisright]

32. Same as other repuke lies like "Clear Sky Initiative"

that increased pollution and "Healthy Forests Initiative" that allowed clear-cutting. Any time repukes name a bill or movement, it means the opposite of that.

[bhikkhu]

33. And "No Child Left Behind". n/t

[putitinD]

34. I'm really beginning to hate living in Michigan, Where is a better place to re-locate to?