Right-to-work... you have forced union employess to seek job somewhere else!!!!!!!!!
By adopting a "right-to-work" law this week, Michigan is joining a group of states where wages tend to be lower, but job growth stronger, than states that don't have the law.
But gauging how much of this divergence in paychecks and employment is a result of the laws is difficult to do.
Right-to-work laws, which allow workers in unionized workplaces to opt out of paying union dues, were first adopted in the South decades ago as part of a larger drive to lure factory jobs from the heavily unionized North. By that measure, those early laws—in conjunction with other business-friendly policies—were highly successful.
Now, the trend is spreading to the heart of the old Rust Belt itself, in the wake of Republican gains in the region in the 2010 elections. Earlier this year, Indiana passed such a law, and on Tuesday, the birthplace of the United Auto Workers union, Michigan, became the 24th state to adopt such a measure.
Critics of the laws say they hold down wages. And indeed, private-sector employees in right-to-work states earned an average of $738.43 a week in the past 12 months, 9.8% less than workers in states without such laws, according to an analysis of Labor Department data that didn't include health-care and other benefits. But proving cause and effect on wages is difficult, since many factors influence what workers are paid in a given locale, such as whether the mix of businesses are concentrated in higher-paying industries.
Advocates for the law in Oklahoma, which passed in 2001, said they pushed for the legislation because they were worried about losing business to Texas, a neighboring right-to-work state. Oklahoma's economy has fared much better than the nation's as a whole since then, but it is hard to know how much the law has contributed, given the state's oil-and-gas boom.
The jobless rate in Oklahoma was below the national average for much of the 1990s, and, at 5.3% in October, is one of the lowest in the nation now. In addition to the right-to-work law, Oklahoma has introduced in recent years a set of incentives for businesses based on the number of jobs they created. And the expansion of two military bases lured aerospace companies, creating white-collar engineering jobs that put upward pressure on wages.
today's date is Wed 12/05/12
ReplyDeleteRight-to-work... you have forced union employess to seek job somewhere else!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteBy adopting a "right-to-work" law this week, Michigan is joining a group of states where wages tend to be lower, but job growth stronger, than states that don't have the law.
But gauging how much of this divergence in paychecks and employment is a result of the laws is difficult to do.
Right-to-work laws, which allow workers in unionized workplaces to opt out of paying union dues, were first adopted in the South decades ago as part of a larger drive to lure factory jobs from the heavily unionized North. By that measure, those early laws—in conjunction with other business-friendly policies—were highly successful.
Now, the trend is spreading to the heart of the old Rust Belt itself, in the wake of Republican gains in the region in the 2010 elections. Earlier this year, Indiana passed such a law, and on Tuesday, the birthplace of the United Auto Workers union, Michigan, became the 24th state to adopt such a measure.
Critics of the laws say they hold down wages. And indeed, private-sector employees in right-to-work states earned an average of $738.43 a week in the past 12 months, 9.8% less than workers in states without such laws, according to an analysis of Labor Department data that didn't include health-care and other benefits. But proving cause and effect on wages is difficult, since many factors influence what workers are paid in a given locale, such as whether the mix of businesses are concentrated in higher-paying industries.
Advocates for the law in Oklahoma, which passed in 2001, said they pushed for the legislation because they were worried about losing business to Texas, a neighboring right-to-work state. Oklahoma's economy has fared much better than the nation's as a whole since then, but it is hard to know how much the law has contributed, given the state's oil-and-gas boom.
The jobless rate in Oklahoma was below the national average for much of the 1990s, and, at 5.3% in October, is one of the lowest in the nation now. In addition to the right-to-work law, Oklahoma has introduced in recent years a set of incentives for businesses based on the number of jobs they created. And the expansion of two military bases lured aerospace companies, creating white-collar engineering jobs that put upward pressure on wages.