By Matthew Beil, Staff Writer
In recent years, a new initiative targeted directly at labor unions has taken hold with many states passing a Right to Work Bill. These bills do two critical things to undermine the power that the Unions have: first it removes mandatory dues to the union as a condition of employment by a company, and second it would allow a business to hire a non-union member.
Since the industrial revolution, labor unions have been one force that constituted the only line of defense between the workers and their employers. When run correctly, they protect the right of workers and watch out for their needs. This entails everything from pay raises, working conditions, and time off.
Of course, this does not mean there are no drawbacks. One of which is that unions require dues. These dues range from 1.3- 5 percent of the wages earned by workers. The power that unions have is twofold. First they consolidate the workers into a central group. Second they have the ability to negotiate contracts with big businesses. A main weapon that unions wield is directly linked to their consolidation of all workers, the ability to strike. This is greatly undermined when employers hire non-union members, because a non-union member does not have to listen to the union.
Now there are some downsides. In recent years, unions have not been able to negotiate contracts very well. This is due to overzealous demands and an inability to compromise. However, there are other factors. For example, if a strike is to occur in this modern world, the worker will feel the effects first because they will have no income.
On the other side of the debate are the businesses who feel that unions get in the way of production. The undeniable fact of capitalism is that profit is the goal. Profit is what decides whether a company lives or dies. The heads of corporations see the power of a union as a direct threat to the livelihood of their business and personal profits. They see the demands made by unions as unreasonable and greedy. They have some credibility in their argument, when employees are sitting on an assembly line and doing a repetitive task, they do not have a very high demand skill.
Despite all of this, both labor leaders and corporations seem to have lost sight that workers are human beings. Workers have wives, sons, and daughters. They have bills to pay and mouths to feed. They have hopes that their hard work will allow their children to reach a higher level than they did. The hard reality of the situation is that when there is an organization such as large corporations whose main goal is to make a profit, workers are at risk. Some of these organizations do not give employee benefits and pay their workers minimum wage.
What is more startling is how the political parties stack on the issue. Democrats take the side of unions, who more often than not support democratic candidates in election years. Republicans take the side of corporations, who are more often than not their biggest supporters in elections. And in many of the right-to-work states, Republicans are in control. One can look at this from two ways: first an attempt by Republicans to undermine one of the biggest supporters of their opponents and to garner more money for their political aspirations from their supporters. Alternatively, one can look at this situation as unions stepping in the way of capitalism, the obstruction of profits and the debasement of the economic system of the country.
An interesting note is that there is little difference between states with the right-to-work laws and those without. The difference in unemployment rates is 0.6 percent on average. Right-to-work states have a 7 percent unemployment rate and those states without Right to Work laws have a 7.6 percent. Yet the states with a right-to-work laws have on average a lower wage than non-right-to-work states. Further, the state with the highest unemployment rate is Nevada at 11.5 percent, and the state with the lowest unemployment rate is Nebraska at 3.8 percent. Both have right-to-work laws.
As debate rages on, the hope is that those making decisions remember that their actions affect the workers, unions, corporations, and all Americans. That we as a country must become a better global competitor without exploiting our lower class whose lives are paycheck to paycheck, and who are living below the poverty line. These are our people, our neighbors, our fellow Americans, and they are most at risk.
