George Leef’s latest Forbes column focuses on the recent movement toward right-to-work status in Midwestern states.
For quite a few years, the number of states with Right-to-Work statutes was stuck at 22. Oklahoma adopted RTW in 2001, but then no more did so (despite serious legislative battles) until Indiana in 2012 and Michigan in 2013.
Wisconsin has now become the 25th RTW state.
What is going on? I think the momentum toward RTW – or more accurately, the declining appeal of compulsory unionism – is explained by two things. First, it is becoming clear that RTW status helps attract business, while compulsory unionism repels it.
Second, more and more workers who once regarded labor unions as crucial to their success and happiness are realizing that they aren’t, and in fact just want to grab some of their money. …
… Lowering the likelihood of unionization appeals to management since unions are notorious for interfering with efficiency and fomenting a poisonous “us versus them” attitude. That helps to explain why, for example, the foreign car-makers chose to build plants in RTW states rather than in states where unionization was more probable.
Moreover, once a state rejects compulsory unionism, that signals to investors that the redistributionists are no longer in complete control of the state and thus their capital will earn a better return. RTW, after all, usually goes hand-in-hand with other tax and regulatory policies that attract rather than repel business.
