Posted on 07/14/2018 7:38:22 AM PDT by willowsdale
Early last year, Kentucky and Missouri respectively became the 27th and 28th states to adopt Right to Work laws. But what they have experienced since with regard to labor policy is not at all the same.
The Bluegrass State Right to Work law took effect in January 2017 and has remained in effect ever since. A union boss-instigated lawsuit to overturn the statute was dismissed this January; union lawyers’ appeal has at this writing yet to be heard by the Kentucky Supreme Court.
The Show-Me State Right to Work law, in contrast, has yet to take effect. Union bosses were able to use a quirk in the Missouri legal code to block its implementation, and also to put on a statewide ballot a measure known as Proposition A, now scheduled for an August 7 vote. Unless Proposition A is backed by a majority of voters, protections against compulsory unionism will be strangled in the cradle in Missouri.
Top union bosses are now waging a multi-million-dollar campaign, funded largely by compulsory union dues and fees extracted from employees, to perpetuate their forced-unionism privileges. They know the Right to Work law they oppose is overwhelmingly popular. Consequently, the aim of their campaign is to confuse voters about what the law will really do. And a key component of this campaign is predictions of economic doom if the Right to Work law is allowed to take effect.
But Big Labor’s economic narrative is demonstrably false. In neighboring Kentucky, America’s 27th Right to Work law has already been in effect for a year and a half. And the state’s economic future is looking brighter and brighter.
One prominent example of the job-creating investments for which Right to Work Kentucky has successfully competed is a $1.5 billion rolling aluminum mill that will ultimately employ an estimated 600 people in high-paying jobs on a site located near Ashland in Greenup County. Braidy Industries Inc. began construction on this 1.8 million square-foot facility in June. It is expected to begin operations in 2020. Employees will earn an average salary of roughly $70,000 a year.
According to a detailed report for the Associated Press by journalist Adam Beam, Braidy had been considering 24 locations, all of them outside of Kentucky, before the Bluegrass State scored, in the words of company CEO Craig Bouchard, a “come from behind win.”
Beam explained that Kentucky had joined the list of possible sites only after the first week in January 2017, when “the Republican-controlled legislature banned companies from deducting mandatory union dues from employee paychecks.” And Bouchard himself has publicly affirmed that, without its Right to Work law, Kentucky “wouldn’t have been on the list.”
Right to Work protections for employees reduce business-bashing Big Labor bosses’ incentive and ability to secure monopoly-bargaining privileges at high-paying plants like the one Braidy is now building in Kentucky and hamstringing them with union work rules that undercut their flexibility and prevent them from succeeding. That’s why Bouchard’s determination to create manufacturing jobs that pay well and offer excellent benefits only in a state with a Right to Work law makes perfect sense.
The fact is, U.S. Commerce Department data indicate most other primary metal manufacturers agree with Bouchard about the indispensability of Right to Work, even if they aren’t as blunt about their stance as he is. Commerce data show that, from 2006 to 2016, overall, constant-dollar production of primary metals soared by an average of 55 percent in the 22 states that had Right to Work laws on the books for the entire decade.
Right to Work states’ real primary metal output growth was nearly quadruple the relatively paltry gain for the 24 states where forced union dues were permissible for the whole time from 2006 to 2016, and 5.5 times as great as the increase for then-forced-unionism Missouri alone.
Overall, U.S. factory employment has grown by more than 1.4 million since early 2009, and many more excellent manufacturing job opportunities are on the horizon. But to participate in the gains, Missouri needs to adopt the right policies. And the evidence is clear that a defeat for Proposition A would be a huge step in the wrong direction.
I’ve seen lots of lawn signs opposing Prop A, but not a single lawn sign supporting it.
I have seen many of those Vote No signs here in Texas County. I support the right to work without paying a union to do so, but am a bit confused. Should I support Proposition A or vote against it?
> personal freedom for employees <
That’s the key point. If, say, 10 workers in a factory want to form a union and bargain as a unit, it should be their right to do so. And the employer should have the right to refuse to talk to them. And then if those 10 workers strike, so be it.
And any worker who’d rather bargain on his own (”Boss, I need a raise”) without joining a union should also be free to do so.
Unions shouldn’t be illegal. But neither should they be mandatory. It’s a free country, supposedly.
Vote YES on Prop A.
Get out and VOTE people on August 7!
That’s the way these communist scumbags always set it up, to confuse people.
https://www.kansascity.com/opinion/editorials/article214772545.html
2 days ago - A “no” vote on Proposition A is a vote to keep the right-to-work law from going into effect. A “yes” vote is a vote to make Missouri a right-to-work state.
If you support the right to work without paying a union to do so you should vote against it.
It’s a union-backed bill. That should tell you all you need to know.
I’m wrong. They confused me just as was intended.
Voting YES makes Missouri a right-to-work state.
Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31
Thanks Unum. It does apprear that it is designed to confuse. Greitens signed the bill to make Missouri a right to work state. I think the unions are trying to make people think Prop A will repeal that and vote no.
Supporting “Prop A” with a “Yes” vote merely allows the passed-and-signed Right-to-Work, Senate Bill 19, to go into effect.
State Sen. Bob Onder prefers to call it “Freedom to Work.” Potential employees can CHOOSE whether or not they want to join a union, rather than being compelled to join as a condition of employment.
Vote “Yes” on Prop A. (Yard signs should be available at Headquarters offices around the state this weekend.)
I have seen many of those Vote No signs here in Texas County.
I like Sen. Onder’s phraseology. I will use it to remind myself how to vote. Do I believe a person should have the freedom to choose whether or not to join a union to get a job? Yes.
The TV ads are dishonest. They are trying to convince the voters that right to work will take money out of the pockets of the workers. Right to work has had the opposite effect. Now that public sector unions legal theft has been stopped by the Supreme Court, unions in Missouri will cease to be a major factor in statewide elections. This is bad news for Democrats.
Missouri has a significant automobile and aviation industry that will continue to have union representation, but unions elsewhere will become rare and ineffectual. That’s the result of arrogance and blatant political involvement at the expense of the workers.
Those signs have been up for quite a some time so the unions have been on top of this from the start. I need to head into town today to pick up some feed. Thanks to the tip from Prov3456, I’ll swing by the Texas County Republican headquarters in Houston and pick up some vote yes signs.
You don’t get paid to put up a “for” sign.
You don’t get your life threatened if you don’t put up an opposed sign
There are 114 counties in MO. The locations that (I know) have signs are in St. Louis, St. Charles, Kirksville, Columbia, Kansas City, Springfield, Cape Girardeau, and Jefferson City.
There may be others; these are the locations I’m sure of.
I was confused, and it turns out intentionally.
The legislature passed and the governor signed right-to-work legislation recently.
The fact that this now shows up as a ballot initiative made me believe it was to repeal that legislation, so I was going to vote no.
I hate union goons and their sleazy, underhanded tactics.
There is going to be light turnout, so it is doubly important to show up and vote yes.
Man, if I had the means, I’d get out of this communist state of NY and move to a free one with no “obligation” to join a union, and where there are good opportunities for good-paying jobs.
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