Our country has reached a tipping point in its view of labor unions for the first time since American workers began organizing in the late 1800s. No longer required for principled stands against harsh working conditions at the height of the industrial era, labor unions have become less about espousing the best interests of their members and more about advancing a destructive political agenda. What has changed? When unions began taking more and more to the point that they began taking from all of us, Americans began to say enough.
The practice of forced unionization, compulsory union dues, and the removal of a secret ballot process through a card check system are unconscionable remnants of a bygone era. Currently, 22 states have Right to Work laws on their books. Taken as a whole, these states enjoy greater private sector job growth and boast workforces that consistently have greater growth in real personal income and lower costs of living than non-Right to Work states. People vote with their feet, and according to an analysis of census data by the National Right to Work Committee, “a net total of nearly two million Americans moved from non-Right to Work states to Right to Work states just since April 1, 2000.”
The debate is not one of the right of labor unions to exist. They have that right. Rather, it is time to end the special powers that allow unions the ability to coerce employees to join their ranks or pay union fees against their will. As your congressman, I would oppose any move to institute card check voting, and would join as a sponsor of the national Right to Work bill to remove one more obstacle to job creation and give workers the choice in union membership.