PAtownhall.com
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
PAtownhall.com
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
Pennsylvania's Marketplace of Ideas
by Susan Staub,
President, PA Right to Work
"We must take control and influence in this country." "Employee Free Choice Act is our Future; it's our
bread and butter."
"We cannot sustain bargaining with a National Right
to Work Law!"
(quotes taken from the Pennsylvania Conference of
Teamsters Convention speeches, 4/28/08, Philadelphia)
Private sector employment grew in Right to Work states 17.7% in the ten years from 1997-2007, while it mustered only 8.6% in forced dues states, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureaus of Labor Statistics.
In the past five years, 2002-2007, the 22 Right to Work states' private employment actually grew more than twice (9.6%) the rate in the 28 forced dues states, which grew only 3.7% (ibid).
It's clear from the union officials' statements I've led with that "worker freedom" to choose whether to join a union in their place of work is NOT their goal! Compulsory unionism, union officials' modus operandi, is the enemy of freedom! Union bosses are determined to wipe out workers' individual liberty in both the public and private sectors, by eliminating their right to work.
In the recent "2007 Index of Worker Freedom," published by the Alliance of Worker Freedom, Pennsylvania received a score of "zero" on ten economic variables, placing it at the bottom of the index with a grade of "F". In contrast, three out of four states receiving an "A minus" were Right to Work states, as was the only state receiving an "A", Utah. Five other states – none of which have a Right to Work Law – also received an "F" grade – like Pennsylvania!
In summarizing Pennsylvania's results, the study wrote: "Pennsylvania, with a minimum wage above the federal level, an entrepreneurial average that barely exists, and a public sector union density of over 50%, scores at the bottom of the index. Serious reforms are needed to protect the plight of the average worker in Pennsylvania...from Right to Work laws to paycheck protection, the employees in this state would benefit from improvements on any of the variables examined in the index."
As the Teamsters' comments reveal, a Right to Work law is their greatest obstacle to "taking control and influence in this country." It's clear that individual freedom of choice for workers IS a union official's enemy. From their political demands and efforts to pass "card-check' legislation (to take away an employee's right to their secret ballot vote and to make employee "union membership" a given), to financing the elimination or prevention of the passage of Right To Work laws, their goals are clear.
A recent Wall Street Journal article (April 4, 2008) reported: "The AFL-CIO has approved a record political budget of $53 million to help fund 200,000 union workers on the streets. Its affiliated national and international unions have pledged another $200 million. The NEA will throw in $40 million to $50 million at the races. The Service Employees International has marked off $100 million for politics and intends to pay 2,000 union members the equivalent of their salaries to work on democratic campaigns. Add in union money for federal and state political action committees, for 527s, and for local and state races, and some astute members of the business community...estimate union political spending may top $1 billion in 2008."
It's time for our citizens to regain the individual freedom in the work place they have lost through legislative action spurred on and financed by self-interested union officials. It's time for Pennsylvanians to demand an "A" in worker and employer freedom!
It's time we returned to the dreams of our forefathers – to the cradle of individual liberty they dreamed of for all Americans.
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Contact Mrs. Staub at SStaub@PARightToWork.org for more information or to arrange a speaking engagement for your group or organization. Or visit their website at www.PARightToWork.org.
Pennsylvanians for Right to Work is not affiliated with any other Right to Work organization.
