Pity the Poor Union Bosses

Right-To-Work Laws Make Unions Accountable, Not DOA

Economic Policy Institute Vice President Ross Eisenbrey: In Right to Work states union officials have to work too hard for their money.

The basic facts about state Right to Work laws aren’t in doubt. In the 23 states that now have such laws on the books, each employee has the personal freedom to refuse to join or pay dues or fees to an unwanted union. Each employee also has the protected right to join and financially support a union, regardless of what the employer thinks or what other employees think. Right to Work laws are strongly correlated with faster growth in employment and employee compensation.

However, there are still some open questions about the effects of Right to Work laws.  To the extent they empower employees who don’t want a union to cut off their financial support, such laws may result in lower unionization. At the same time, to the extent they encourage union officials to do their jobs better so that employees will continue paying dues voluntarily, Right to Work laws could actually lead to higher unionization. Although Right to Work laws have been around since the 1940’s, scholars still have diverse views about whether, on balance, they reduce the share of employees who are unionized.

In an interesting article for Investor’s Business Daily published today (see the link above), reporter Sean Higgins makes the case that, although Right to Work laws “give rank-and-file members a way to demand more accountability from†union officials “so they don’t drop out,†they don’t actually weaken unions per se. Quite surprisingly, even an executive of the forced union dues-funded, anti-Right to Work Economic Policy Institute (EPI) voiced some support for this perspective. EPI Vice President Ross Eisenbrey admitted to Mr. Higgins that Right to Work laws “don’t necessarily cost unions members,†but complained that it takes more “time and energy†to earn employees’ support than it does to conscript it!

“It’s a lot more work. . . . They have the same amount of dollars in the [union] treasury, but they’ve spent a lot more time and energy getting it.â€

Pity the poor union bosses, actually having to work for their money!