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So-Called Right to Work Law Would Reduce Indiana Wages
More evidence that backers of Indiana’s ”right to work” for less (RTW) legislation are wrong when they claim so-called right to work promotes economic growth.
A new report out moments ago from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) finds that if a “right to work” law was adopted in Indiana it would be far more likely to reduce workers’ wages and benefits. It follows the release this morning of similar findings by University of Notre Dame economic professor Marty Wolfson.
In “Working hard to make Indiana look bad: The tortured, uphill case for ‘right to work” political economist Gordon Lafer writes:
In Indiana and elsewhere, large sums of money have been devoted to backing RTW bills, with lobbyists claiming that RTW significantly improves both the number of jobs in a state and the wages people earn because companies that had avoided the state will flock there. The evidence shows that these claims are completely without scientific foundation.
Lafer, who is also a professor at University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center, says rigorous, properly designed studies have found that ”right to work” laws reduce wages by $1,500 a year, for union and nonunion workers, and lower the likelihood that union and nonunion employees get health care coverage or pensions through their jobs. They have also found that “right to work” laws have no impact on job growth in states that adopt them.
He takes to task the National Right to Work Committee for its twisted interpretation of job growth data. Lafer also highlights the economic distortions in reports from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the Chamber of Commerce.
Legislators should decide this issue on the basis of economic facts rather than political ideology.
Click here for the full report.
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17 Comments
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Where is the militia that the gun buffs are always talking about protecting us , from oppression both domestic and foreign.? A gun is not much use if the operator don’t know where to point it.
Good point.
We don’t need violence, Suddencall, that was an utterly stupid statement for you to make.
Democracy that the people participate in is all we need, IF we can get the people to participate in Demcoracy … which so far has begun to happen all across our country!
Wake up and quit being such a doofus, Suddencall, we need human responsibility to make this be a great country to live in! Not violence, ever!
Stick around and you will learn . This is not a war you can win with words.Do you think there would ever been a union movement without violence?
The “Militia” are too populated with wealthy reactionaries who have too many vested interests to care about workers or their Constitutional rights…PLEASE AMERICA, VOTING MATTERS, don’t let yourself be hijacked by apathy or thinking your opinion doesn’t matter!
You are right , voting does matter , The more voters that turn out the harder it is to steal our elections. By the way we have never had a fair and honest election in the USA . One of the problems is the number of signatures that are required to get on the ballot is much to low, it has not been revised , and the population has increased five fold.This problem needs to be fixed.
How about researching who is running for office before you vote for them?
If the candidate admits he is republican and admits he is superstitious and worships superstition and myth then he is not someone a patriot would vote for.The framing fathers told us that separation of church and state is the right path for our nation.There should be no exceptions to this rule.
I was always under the impression that Americans were intelligent people , but look around now and you would never know it. I wonder if school was the instrument used to dumb down America?
The right towork law crushes the wges just look at New Mexico. They want to pay someone with a graduate degree 13.00 hr in a professional position. There is little hope for upward mobility due to corruption and nepotism.
I’ve seen right to work law in effect for many years in Tennessee. It’s the most devestating act against descent wages and benefits that’s ever hit workers. That’s exactly the point of right to work,work for slave labor wages with no benefits. This means more money in the CEO’s,presidenst and vp’s pockets. It means struggling to survive and not being able to give your children a college education. It means having very little to nothing as far as savings for a retirement. It means no reprensention for the workers,no safety measures set in place to protect workers,no voice in negoating a wage increase,yet these workers will be lucky to ever get a raise in wages. It’s exactly what the greedy rich,the RepigliKKKons and Douche Baggers want in every state. These aholes are gradually driving our nation into a plutonomy government,a form of communism. The rich will have their bought out stooges running our government with Wall St. and corporations running our economy. People in this country had better wake the hell up.!!!
What do you think we have now? You just described the USA to a tee.
You know one thing sudden. I think you might be right. I to can not see any way that a worker would think that a right to work for less is good. I think the bosses have done a good job in brain washing. Let’s take the local car dealer as a example. We all know the price of a good car. Now if a state thinks by lowering wages is a good thing, well who is going to buy his cars? I would think all retail business would push for NOT passing a Right to work for less law. I know one thing if it were me and I found out that any place of business were the boss pushed for this, I would go right to him face to face and tell him I will NEVER spend one dime here again ever. With some other choice words. I would hope all the good union workers in Indiana would do this. I bet there might be a change of heart.
“Right to Work” is a rerun from the 1990s. It’s also entirely compatible with our mandatory workfare policies, which appear to have met public approval. Indeed, workfare labor has been a great tool for preventing strikes, crushing unionizing efforts, suppressing wages. You’re supposed to think of such agendas as “opportunities.”
Please read this article and pass it along. Indiana RTW is in the cross hairs
http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/opinion/sbt-the-deception-behind-righttowork-push-20120103,0,321621.story
If Right To Work , is so grat , why do theymake union members defend non members? If they don’t want to join a union , they should not partake of any union benefits. I think their wages , and benefits should stay at whatever they hired on for , or whatever the company wants to do.. If they do not want to join a union , they should be satisfied with whatever they get. They are just a bunch of Freeloaders on the backs of members who pay dues ,and sacrifice to get contracts.
Decent article but the author speaks out of both sides of his mouth. He declares the NRWC committee fact sheet as flawed because job growth was skewed by North Dakotas growth in oil related jobs. Then he compares manufacturing growth in Indiana (highly indutrialized state) to other midwest states with with largely agricultural economies.