Posted on 01/27/2016 6:18:53 AM PST by MichCapCon
A labor union campaign against making West Virginia a right-to-work state is centered on scare tactics voters in Michigan would recognize.
With help from International Union of Operating Engineers Local 132, the West Virginia AFL-CIO is warning of lower wages, reduced benefits, and more dangerous working conditions if the state adopts right-to-work.
IUOE Local 132’s Stop WV Paycuts website asks visitors to contact their state legislators with those three reasons for opposing right-to-work.
Unions made the same arguments before Michigan enacted right-to-work several years ago.
“In states with RTW laws on the books, wages are lower, benefits are fewer, and workplace injuries and fatalities are more common,†AFL-CIO’s Working America warned in November 2012.
Since right-to-work took effect in Michigan in early 2013, employment and incomes in the state have grown faster than the national average.
Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that Michigan’s rate of nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses was lower in 2013 than in 2012, and lower still in 2014. Compared to 2012, Michigan had two fewer fatal occupational injuries in 2013 and one more fatal occupational injury in 2014.
Right-to-work laws like the one proposed in West Virginia Senate Bill 1 give employees in unionized workplaces the ability to choose whether to pay a union without fear of losing their jobs. Right-to-work does not stop workers from joining unions, organizing unions, or collectively bargaining with employers over pay, benefits or working conditions.
“Right-To-Work laws lead to lower wages, less benefits and decreased work-place safety,†Stop WV Paycuts asserts in an online form letter meant for state lawmakers. The same claims are repeated elsewhere on the site. Under a graphic of a skull and crossbones is the warning, "RTW laws are intended to lower wages and benefits and decrease workplace safety."
The website appears to be based on a graphic the West Virginia AFL-CIO adapted from campaign materials the national AFL-CIO has been using with mixed results for several years. In addition to Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin have both passed right-to-work since 2011. Unions successfully blocked a Missouri right-to-work bill in 2015.
IUOE Local 132 did not respond to a voice mail request for comment.
A recent West Virginia AFL-CIO radio ad hammering right-to-work focused on the point of workplace safety, suggesting right-to-work should instead be called “right to die on the job.â€
West Virginia has a higher rate of workplace deaths than 23 of America’s 25 right-to-work states, according to AFL-CIO’s own Death on the Job report. The risk of workplace injury or death is much greater in states where industries such as forestry, agriculture, and mining are more prevalent.
Trey Kovacs, a policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said CEI research shows “a significant and positive relationship between economic growth in a state and the presence of a right to work law.â€
“In West Virginia, workers lost an estimated $2,623 from not having a right to work law,†Kovacs said.
Calling the union website an attempt to put a new spin on “old, tired rhetoric,†Kovacs added, “It is only a matter of time before a majority of states protect workers from being forced to pay dues to a union they do not support.â€
-protect workers from being forced to pay dues to a union they do not support-
how is that NOT extortion?
Meanwhile, in Missouri, two State Representatives from St.Louis got in a brawl after a union reception. Both Democrats. Both black. Rep. Curtis supports Right to Work. Rep. Butler does not. Butler followed Curtis out of the restaurant and apparently punched him. Curtis fought back. Under investigation....
Trump loves unions.
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I grew up with unions. New York is largely union, and I sort of spent a lot of time in Florida, which is also a union right to work state so it’s a different kind of thing. But I’ve had great relationships with unions, and I’ve made good deals. I’ve made a lot of money, I mean, I’ve made many billions of dollars and in many cases I’ve been dealing with unions. So, really, collective bargaining doesn’t bother me so much.
http://humanevents.com/2011/03/14/trump-unplugged/
We need a “Look For The Right to Work State Label” campaign.
Michigan is a far cry from WV....
I am no huge fan of unions, but you better believe no way in hell I’d ever walk into a coal mine that wasn’t unionized. I’ve seen enough of that industry to know there is no way in hell I’d depend fully on OSHA to keep me and my co workers safe.
I get your point but it’s the principal about forcing someone to pay for something they may not want to be part of. Next thing you know we’ll be forced to pay for health insurance under penalty of law............oh wait.
No one is forced to work in a union shop... you don’t like the fact the place is unionized, no one forced you to work there.
I am no fan of unions, but when it comes to things like Coal Mining the like, you better believe I have no issues with required membership dues to work there. You aren’t talking about someone who is washing dishes or bagging groceries being forced to pay union dues for no discernible benefit.
The Union is the only real recourse the workers really have to make sure they aren’t walking into a death trap. If you think OSHA will keep miners safe, you are a bit naive. OSHA would keep you safe about as well as MI kept the residence of Flint safe from lead in their water supply. Laws to protect workers are great things, but the reality is they don’t have the resources to effectively make sure they are followed. Union definitely provides a large tangible and direct benefit to those workers.
WV may well pass the right to work, but I know I sure as hell would never go into a mine without it being union represented, and the dues charged are a small price to ensure at least SOMEONE is honestly looking over managements shoulder when it comes to the workers safety. If Unions get stretch so then they can’t do that, enjoy paying your taxes to pay for the lifetime support for the injured workers that survive and benefits to their windows and orphans when they don’t.
I would also be dubious of any of my other employees who didn’t realize this fact and by not paying for those services, put my life in danger as well as their own.
I don’t know, I think if I were a lawmaker in WV, I’d think long and hard about passing a blank right to work with no exception law.
Yep, and the [ex-](L) get the bad rap...go figure.
Biz, FORCED by the collusion of union and govt, is JUST dandy to some. The same, if done in the private sector, would be come down upon as extortion/RICO.
Let’s take your example: coal mining. The ONLY recourse is the union?
Anyone believe that biz would NOT care that their ‘highly trained’ employees were trapped/killed while on the job? What fool would VOLUNTARILY work for any such biz w/ such a track record. Whom would continue to patronize one w/ such a bad reputation?
As to your ‘small price’ statement, YOUR opinion may not be the majority; let alone that the union could care themselves about their members (more than just their dues), let alone the biz and it’s health. There are many instances where unions are the nail-in-the-coffin (worried more about the bennies than the owner and took the company down instead of re-negotiate, let alone sabotage to get their way). In most instances thereof, I would bet biz would/could have survived far longer/better w/out union sucking them DRY.
Course, you are free to join any group you wish...VOLUNTARILY. Anything less IS tyranny.
I never said Union was the ONLY resource, I said it was the most likely to get something done. If you think OSHA is actually staffed effectively to investigate things in a timely manner you are beyond naive. OSHA has about as much chance of keeping miners safe consistently as Flint managed to keep Lead out of its water... .It’s amazing that you are honestly trying to argue Government Competence is the counter to union representation, which is what you are doing.
If you think that Executives and management won’t send people into risky situations because of economic risk, you are not just naive, you are a flat out fool.
29 Miners were killed in 2010 when a company knowingly flouted safety rules repeatedly and continued to send folks in... The centuries long history of mining is filled with such things and events. The “who would send workers into a known dangerous situation for money” argument is the stupidest of all arguments made, because history is replete with example after example of folks who did just that, over and over again.
There is no tyranny in a union shop, you are not FORCED to work there, so your ideological outrage, and hyperbole is nonsense. You are a free person, you are free to work wherever you like, however if you choose to work in a union shop, paying the union dues comes with the gig. That’s not tyranny. Tyranny would be, FORCING you to work in a UNION SHOP... but no one is forced to work in any shop or industry, they voluntarily choose to do so, so if you choose to work in a union shop you are well aware of the requirements and consequences, its moronic to claim tyranny.
Tyranny requires force against ones will, no one is forced to work in a union shop, so to claim tyranny because one chooses to and that has obligations to go with it silly.
WV will do whatever it does, but given it can’t effectively enforce the safety laws on its books currently, at the national or state level... Elk River Spill just being the most recent example of this... your arguments hold about as much water as a sieve.
One problem. The union is by its very nature, corrupt. They are paid by the workers, not because they are needed, but because it is required. Therefore, their chief aims are getting more money and protecting their income.
My wife worked in a textile mill that was unionized. Opposing the union was more dangerous than a coal mine.
I have never once stated that I am a fan of Unions, however comparing unionizing of check out baggers and hotel maids with unions for things like mining is disingenuous. Its very easy to argue when in the prior group the union is bringing no real tangible benefit to the workers they claim to represent.
In the other, there is indeed a distinct and necessary function that the Union provides, without unions filling that role, that means government becomes the first and ONLY line, and it is not only corrupt but incompetent. No way I would argue there is no corruption in unions, there is corruption in any large group because all large groups are made up of people. That however is not a counterargument to the role they fill, it may be an ugly symptom that comes along with them, but it does not negate the other roles that they play.
WV will do what it will do, but I think a blanket right to work law that ignores the functional realities of the labor and jobs in WV and equates the bagger with the miner is just asking for more problems than already happen.
How many miners have died in union controlled mines?
PBS “American Experience” had a 2 hour program “The Mine Wars” that portrayed a history of mine unionization from 1901 to 1922, including a real shooting war by thousands of people. All three sides (union, owners, all levels of government) shared culpability.
Wages in West Virginia can’t go lower, there are no benefits or jobs and Manchin is up obammy’s rear end
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