American Legislative Exchange Council is pushing the union busting resolutions to make states “right to work” states. Dr. Martin Luther King had said was one of the greatest frauds ever perpetuated on workers.
What ‘right to work’ would do is let workers, who are in a union pay dues or opt not to pay. If they opt out they still get the benefits from the union as the dues-paying workers. Some pay, while others get a free ride. I always thought Republicans and the Tea Party members were against free rides – something for nothing.
What the ‘right to work’ does is weaken the unions by sharing the benefits in an open shop whereas in a closed shop everyone pays their fair share. Weakening the unions is what ‘right to work’ and ‘pay check protection’ is all about and ALEC and the GOP won’t give up until they succeed in destroying all the protections in place for workers. This is what this is all about.
There are currently 23 states with ‘right to work’ legislation; and Arizona is currently trying to outlaw unions. Now ALEC is going after the law enforcement, firefighters and all civil servants. If ALEC and Arizona are successful it will set unions back 100 years.
This is another example of the GOP and corporations hitting the 99% over the heads yet again. There is no doubt this is class war with the 99% vs the 1%. The next year will be the turning point for the 99%, and it will up to unions to win it or lose it.
There are assaults on our civil government unions, but we also have some major assaults on labor unions, such as the Local 21 International Longshore and Warehouse union. The Longshoremen are in for a major battle very soon as the National Guard will be escorting grain ships into ports. Another union battle going on is the Cooper Tire and Rubber Co. in Findlay, OH. One thousand-fifty workers are in a battle with the company over wages and benefits and California workers are not exempt from this assault as the payroll protection will once again be a ballot measure this November. There are five states that have payroll protection: Idaho, Ohio, Michigan, Wyoming and Washington, and one only has to look at their workers’ situation to see how the payroll protection has helped them out.
