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I am opposed to any effort to enact a National Right to Work Legislation. RTW is nothing more than Corporate Welfare. The effort to destroy unions is an effort to destroy the people’s right to form unions and bargain collectively. Any such attempt to limit that basic freedom should be opposed. We do not want a nation of Wal-Mart workers who are paid so little they are often times on welfare, food stamps and Medicaid. If corporate America succeeds in getting NRTW legislation passed we will see wages plummet and living standards spiral down at the speed of gravity. If corporations succeed in enacting NRTW they will effectively eradicate all collective bargaining agreements across the nation and plunge us into a workers dark ages. I know that I am probably speaking to a Senator that believes in RTW and my words of doom will fall on deaf ears but I feel compelled to make the effort. I am a union president of a small local. We have successfully negotiated several CBA's over the years that have been mutually beneficial to both parties. NRTW will undue all of that. In each of the companies I represent I have copies of their company handbooks. These handbooks are nullified by the CBA, and thank God that is so. If we were required to live under these handbooks the working conditions would be unbearable. RTW gives the company the right to work you anyway they see fit and the right to terminate your employment without cause. If one of your supervisors' children becomes of work age and needs a job he needs but to remove you and then replace you with his child. There is no redress for an action like this and it will become the norm if NRTW is enacted. It is already that way in my state of Georgia. The company can fire you for good cause, bad cause, or no cause at all based solely on the judgment of the person in charge. Where is the job security in that? Aging workers will be replaced by younger workers and those close to retirement will be removed before they hit the golden age of being fully vested if the company has such a plan which if all the unions are destroyed there will be no such plans and why would there be. I am aware of the arguments that a company cannot discriminate against you because of your age. That law came into effect because of legislation sponsored by labor. The union’s put forth most of the pertinent labor law we have today. NRTW will undue decades of that work. Under RTW the company can terminate your employment at will. That is what RTW effectively is, to make all employees “at will”. An employee works for a company for twenty years, has been an exemplary employee and because of his tenure is also one of the higher paid employees. The company then falls on hard times because of mismanagement this employee will be one of the first to go because of his salary not his work ethic. The argument that the company can’t release because of your age is nullified by RTW because the company is not required to give you a reason for your dismissal, you’re just gone. Sure you can go file a complaint with the DOL but that will take months or even years to process and most workers don’t know that is even an option for them. However if the company merely terminates one younger employee they can even escape redress from the DOL saying they were not targeting older employees. RTW is an affront to working men and women. It requires unions to represent freeloaders within a group and adds undue burden to those who pay dues. The cost of running a union is borne by those who freely pay dues. RTW purposefully burdens unions in these ways in an attempt to ruin unions through bankruptcy by forcing representation without the requirement of payment. Where else in America can this be found? The criminal justice system and Public Defenders and look at the quality of representation many of those get from an overburdened P.D.’s office. If an applicant to a job wants to work for a company that is represented by a union and wants the wages and benefits that have been negotiated by the body then why shouldn’t they pay? It is a free country they don’t have to work there. If they are morally opposed to unions then find a job that isn’t unionized; the truth is they want the union job because of the benefits it provides but they don’t want to pay the dues that got those benefits. Working for a non-represented company is surely less attractive which is why they want the union job.
The lies Rand Paul is spouting about money being extorted from union members for the political the process is just that lies. You know it and I know it. No dues money, under punishment of law, can be spent on political action or pact funds. All money spent by the local unions and the International Unions must by the rule of law come from voluntary contributions to the political wing of the union. The Committee on Political Education (COPE) money is money that was donated freely by the individual members from their paychecks. This money is spent on political actions that represent those who contributed. If it wasn’t the money would dry up, but since it doesn’t it must be going where those who donated intended.
If NRTW goes in effect then we will see the beginning of the true Corporate Government where the country is run by the corporations. Congress is so entrenched in corporate money that many feel the pressure to further the corporate agenda but the voices of the workers are protected by the International Unions. Without them you there will be no advocate for working men and women in this country. The unions speak not only for their members but for all working men and women. The unions want to organize as many workers as they can that is true but what is being said by the Nation Right to Work Coalition is a lie inasmuch as the right to join a union is the workers choice. They talk about “Fat Cat Union Bosses” trying to draw a negative image in your mind but the truth is the union is...
