"Right-To-Work" is taking some hard hits. What does that mean?

 The AFL-CIO reported yesterday that

Top Cut:
The New Hampshire House of Representatives on Thursday voted down H.B. 1377—this legislative session’s attempt to pass “right to work”—by a margin of 212–168.

Why It Matters:
In a clear display of how New Hampshire residents feel about these legislative attacks on workers’ rights, more than 1,400 members of the public testified or signed on to register their position on the bill over two days of testimony, and only about 50 were in support of the right to work. The House postponed the entire topic for the rest of 2024.

New Hampshire AFL-CIO President Glenn Brackett said in a statement, “While out-of-state billionaires and D.C. lobbyists continue to enlist legislators to introduce identical bills, year in and year out, our elected representatives of both political parties have voted to defeat them. That is what happened today. It happened because the people of New Hampshire, and the members of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, know what we know, that ‘Right-to-Work’ is STILL wrong for New Hampshire.”

The same AFL-CIO report mentioned the following:

Top Cut:
Georgia union members and leaders spent Thursday morning lobbying state House of Representatives members against S.B. 362, a bill that would prohibit employers receiving state economic development incentives from voluntarily recognizing employee unions.

Why It Matters:
The bill, which is championed by Gov. Brian Kemp, is similar to a law passed in Tennessee last May and a cookie-cutter piece of legislation drafted by corporate lobbying group American Legislative Exchange Council. Alabama and South Carolina also have passed related laws. But, despite these coordinated special interest attacks on workers across the South, Georgia teachers, electricians, painters, glaziers, film crew members, public college employees and other workers across industries showed up in full force to push back and urge lawmakers to do the right thing in the state.

This followed a February 14 report by the AFL-CIO that said the following:

Top Cut:Michigan officially got rid of “right to work” on Tuesday, making it the first state in nearly 60 years to repeal the law.

Why It Matters:
Originally enacted in 2012 by then-Gov. Rick Snyder, after the bill was passed during a lame-duck session of the Legislature, the repeal of right to work is a huge step to expand and protect workers’ rights in Michigan. Tuesday also saw multiple other pro-worker pieces of legislation signed into law, thanks to the democratic trifecta in Lansing, including restorations of prevailing wage and organizing rights for graduate student research assistants.

There was some worthy press coverage of the real of "right-to-work" in Michigan. PBS did a good story. That story says in part that

Michigan had the nation’s seventh-highest percentage of unionized workers when the “right-to-work” law was enacted in 2012, but that dropped to 11th in 2022. Over the past decade, union membership in Michigan has fallen by 2.6 percentage points as overall U.S. union membership has been falling steadily for decades, reaching an all-time low last year of 10.1%.

Michigan becomes the first state in 58 years to repeal a “right-to-work” law, with Indiana repealing its in 1965 before Republicans there restored it in 2012. In 2017, Missouri’s Republican Legislature approved a “right-to-work” law, but it was blocked from going into effect before voter’s overwhelmingly rejected it the next year.

In total, 26 states now have “right-to-work” laws in place. There were massive protests in Indiana and Wisconsin in recent years after those legislatures voted to curb union rights.

“If we want to make Michigan a place where people want to come and raise a family and build their careers for the long haul, it is critical that we have got these strong workplace protections,“ Ron Bieber, president of the Michigan State AFL-CIO, said. “By standing up and taking their power back, at the ballot box and in the workplace, workers have made it clear Michigan is and always will be the beating heart of the modern American labor movement.”

Truthout and the Economic Policy Institute also carried good coverage. The New Republic carried a strong analysis of what's wrong with "right-to-work" in the first place. 

Many of us will read the headlines and think that we are being told what we already know or will feel justified in our long-standing opposition to "right-to-work" and leave it at that. Perhaps this is why there is so little coverage of what happened in Michigan and New Hampshire and what is happening in states like Georgia and Tennessee even in the progressive press. But I think that there is a deeper story here.

The strikes and near-strikes of 2023 have to find an expression in politics, and I think that that is what we are seeing taking place in muted form in some states and nationally right now. We have young and progressive pro-labor candidates stepping up and pro-worker legislation being moved from the grassroots in many places. These trends ae one key part of defeating the Republican agenda in November and each victory along the way helps build momentum for other new wins. It's true that workers and union members are more driven by issues than we are inspired by either political party, but it's also true that it's Democrats---and particularly young, progressive and women of color Democrats----who are leading on our issues right now. The Squad looks more like The Troop this week, and might look like The Battalion soon if if this trend continues.

Significant numbers of union members understand what is going on. The United Electrical Workers' (UE) report on their union's recent General Excutive Board meeting contains the following:

In his Political Action Report, President Rosen noted that close UE ally Congresswoman Summer Lee (D-PA), along with many other of the most pro-worker members of Congress, are under attack by deep-pocketed right-wing forces and will be facing well-funded opponents in their primaries this spring. Congressman Chuy Garcia (D-IL), another close UE ally, may also be facing a similar primary challenge. UE will be issuing a leaflet to make sure members know about Lee’s record of standing up for workers.

GEB members also discussed the dilemma that will face workers in the fall, as they will be forced to choose between the disappointing incumbent, Joe Biden, or Donald Trump, who has vowed to use the government to punish his perceived enemies if he is returned to office.

 

Photo from UE.

Many union members understand the complex moment we're in but some don't. One of my fears is that our closest political friends won't receive the support from us that they deserve in the names of what seems expedient or practical. Another is that the counter-attack from the right will hit hard and turn our world upside down. And there is the pernicious racism and sexism that has historically divided us at key moments in the past and still threatens our unity. Every nay-sayer and defeatist seemsto be gettig the press coverage and seems to picking up the mic these days, and they're doing lots of damage. 

Where are you standing in relation to this? Are you keeping your hands on the plow and your eyes on the prize or are you somewhere else? Here's a reminder about we're headed if we have everyone on our side keeping focused on our goals.

Photo from The New Republic

The opinions expressed above belong solely to the author and are not those of the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Central Labor Chapter or the Oregon AFL-CIO.