What does right to work legislation actually mean?  According to The Economic Policy Institute, right-to-work laws do not confer any sort of right to a job. Rather, they dilute union bargaining strength by making it harder for workers’ organizations to sustain themselves financially. Proponents argue that by weakening labor laws, RTW will lure outside companies—particularly manufacturers—into the state.  Evidence shows that the claims of these proponents are completely without scientific foundation.  As Utahns and Socialists we we have seen the effects of so called Right to Work laws.

Rigorous studies—using regression analysis to home in on the effect of RTW laws— show that RTW laws:

• reduce wages by $1,500 a year, for both union and nonunion workers, after accounting for different costs of living in the states (Gould and Shierholz 2011)
• lower the likelihood that employees get healthcare or pensions through their jobs—again, for both union and nonunion employees (Gould and Shierholz 2011)
• have no impact whatsoever on job growth (Lafer and Allegretto 2011)

To the extent that enacting RTW legislation ever served as an effective economic development strategy—and the evidence is weak on this point—globalization has rendered RTW irrelevant.  In the 1970s and 1980s, companies may well have moved to RTW states in search of lower wages. But in 2012, companies looking for cheap labor are overwhelmingly looking to China or Mexico, not South Carolina. The impotence of right to work in the era of globalization is evident in the widespread job losses experienced by RTW states over the past 15 years. The loss of manufacturing jobs post-NAFTA has been felt in every state in the country.  The highest rates of job loss have been in right-to-work states, with the Carolinas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida all losing a higher percentage of their manufacturing jobs than Indiana (Public Citizen 2011).

So who is behind this renewed push for Right to Work legislation? Disenfranchised workers? Nope. One need look no further than the Chamber of Commerce and organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council, both which value profit over people.

The Socialist Party stands for the right of all workers to organize, for worker control of industry through the democratic organization of the workplace, for the social ownership of the means of production and distribution, and for international solidarity among working people based on common opposition to global capitalism and imperialism. We believe that the international organization of labor is the only way of combating the exploitation of workers in a global capitalist economy. Working people have no country, but rather an international bond based on class. Workers throughout the world have far more in common with each other across national boundaries than with their bosses in their own countries. Ultimately a socialist revolution must be an international revolution that cannot survive if confined to individual countries amidst capitalist imperialism. In the meantime we call for the repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act which allows for so-called Right to Work laws.

To read the full report of the Economic Policy Institute go to: Working hard to make Indiana look bad:The tortured, uphill case for ‘right-to-work’