Earlier this year Missouri became the 28th state in the nation to enact a Right to Work law freeing workers from being forced to join a union as a condition of unemployment. Other states to enact Right to Work in recent years include union stronghold states like Michigan and Wisconsin, where the prospect of Right to Work legislation having a chance at passage seemed like a pipe dream only a few years ago.
Right-to-work laws give workers freedom from being forced to join a union and pay dues. Before the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, which permitted states to enact Right to Work laws, all American workers could be forced to join a union as a condition of obtaining and maintaining employment.
Kentucky is another state to recently pass Right to Work, with Gov. Matt Bevin (R) signing it into law in January. Prior to statewide passage of Right to Work, 13 county governments across the Bluegrass State had already gone ahead and enacted local Right to Work laws in order to make those localities more attractive to employers, investment, and job creation. It’s a smart move for local governments that have state legislatures whose political composition precludes statewide passage of Right to Work.
Now there is a new effort being launched to pass Right to Work at the local level in a state where the Democrat-controlled legislature refuses to secure worker freedom and make the state more attractive to job creation by passing Right to Work statewide. On October 31, a local Right to Work ordinance was introduced in Sussex County, Delaware.
Sussex County, one of Delaware’s three counties, is the most Republican part of the state. While Hillary Clinton captured Delaware’s electoral votes in 2016 with 53% of the statewide vote, Donald Trump won Sussex County with a near 60% majority. According to Councilman Arlett, Sussex County needs to pass Right to Work in order to have a fighting chance in the stiff competition with other states and localities for businesses, investment, and jobs.
There is plenty of evidence for Sussex County commissioners that passing Right to Work will boost the local economy and make the area more attractive to investment and job creation.
Right to Work states on average have greater economic growth, a lower unemployment rate, and lower taxes than forced union states. The advantages don’t stop there. Right-to-work states also outperform non-Right to Work states in nearly every metric of economic health, from lower unemployment rates to greater after-tax purchasing power, and more. Furthermore, Right to Work states have long been more prosperous than coerced union states. In the three decades between 1977 and 2007, per capita income rose 23 percent faster in Right to Work than in non-Right to Work states.
Though Democrats currently control state
government in Delaware, just like the party does in nearly all of that
part of the country, enactment of Right to Work in Sussex County would
give worker freedom its first and only beachhead in the northeast and
mid-Atlantic regions, providing an opportunity to demonstrate the
benefits that come by ending coerced unionization to other states and
localities across the region.
Charles Daniel, president of the Caesar Rodney Institute, a Delaware-based free market think tank, explains how passage of Right to Work in Delaware would put the First State in a great position.
“No state, county, or municipality north of the Potomac River, south of Canada, east of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and up to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is Right to Work,” Daniel said. “This is an area that includes 60 million people, that is 950 miles from north to south and 550 miles from east to west. What this means is that Delaware could become the only state in the entire region with a Right to Work law. We are also a state without a sales tax, and the estate tax was just abolished. I would really like to see all three counties in Delaware adopt right to work.”
Passage of Right to Work in Sussex County would have an outsized impact due to the state’s geography, explains Anthony Wedo, CEO of Greenville, Delaware-based Premier Restaurant Group:
“The state is strategically located between Philadelphia and Washington. Delaware could be a terrific reinvigoration story. But we have to reach our hand more than halfway across the table to a variety of businesses. Delaware has not had a strategic plan since the Banking Act of 1982. Right to work could be the foundation for the future.”
Union bosses and other opponents of giving workers the freedom to choose whether to join and give money to a union, namely Democratic politicians who rely on union dues for campaign cash, will contend that local Right to Work laws are unconstitutional. Such claims are false.
As two Delaware attorneys – Theodore Kittila, a lawyer representing the Caesar Rodney Institute, and Kevin Fasic, a Wilmington-based lawyer who specializes in construction law – have explained to Sussex County Council members, the constitutionality of local Right to Work laws was recently confirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which issued a ruling on November 18, 2016 upholding the constitutionality of Kentucky’s local Right to Work laws. Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court recently announced on October 2, 2017 that will the highest court in the nation will not take up a challenge to the Sixth Circuit’s ruling, putting the matter to rest for now.
Delaware isn’t the only place where Right to Work is being considered at the local level. A hearing was held in Sandoval County, New Mexico last month on a proposal to implement the law there. Sandoval County Commissioner David Heil (R) says he supports passing Right to Work locally because the majority of site selectors refuse to even consider a location that does not have a Right to Work law.
Charles Daniel, president of the Caesar Rodney Institute, a Delaware-based free market think tank, explains how passage of Right to Work in Delaware would put the First State in a great position.
“No state, county, or municipality north of the Potomac River, south of Canada, east of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, and up to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is Right to Work,” Daniel said. “This is an area that includes 60 million people, that is 950 miles from north to south and 550 miles from east to west. What this means is that Delaware could become the only state in the entire region with a Right to Work law. We are also a state without a sales tax, and the estate tax was just abolished. I would really like to see all three counties in Delaware adopt right to work.”
Passage of Right to Work in Sussex County would have an outsized impact due to the state’s geography, explains Anthony Wedo, CEO of Greenville, Delaware-based Premier Restaurant Group:
“The state is strategically located between Philadelphia and Washington. Delaware could be a terrific reinvigoration story. But we have to reach our hand more than halfway across the table to a variety of businesses. Delaware has not had a strategic plan since the Banking Act of 1982. Right to work could be the foundation for the future.”
Construction workers who would benefit from having the freedom to choose whether to join a union.
Union bosses and other opponents of giving workers the freedom to choose whether to join and give money to a union, namely Democratic politicians who rely on union dues for campaign cash, will contend that local Right to Work laws are unconstitutional. Such claims are false.
As two Delaware attorneys – Theodore Kittila, a lawyer representing the Caesar Rodney Institute, and Kevin Fasic, a Wilmington-based lawyer who specializes in construction law – have explained to Sussex County Council members, the constitutionality of local Right to Work laws was recently confirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which issued a ruling on November 18, 2016 upholding the constitutionality of Kentucky’s local Right to Work laws. Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court recently announced on October 2, 2017 that will the highest court in the nation will not take up a challenge to the Sixth Circuit’s ruling, putting the matter to rest for now.
Delaware isn’t the only place where Right to Work is being considered at the local level. A hearing was held in Sandoval County, New Mexico last month on a proposal to implement the law there. Sandoval County Commissioner David Heil (R) says he supports passing Right to Work locally because the majority of site selectors refuse to even consider a location that does not have a Right to Work law.
“This right to work plan is not to get people to work for less,” Heil said. “It’s to give people the freedom to choose.”
If Sandoval County implements Right to Work, he expects other New Mexico Counties to follow suit, as occurred in Kentucky.
Illinois, home to one of the worst unfunded pension liabilities in the nation, is a state that desperately needs Right to Work, but there is no chance to pass it statewide with Speaker Mike Madigan (D) in control of the state legislature. That’s why Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) has come out in support of passing Right to Work at the local level as was done in Kentucky and is now being considered in Delaware and New Mexico. Union-backed Illinois lawmakers have responded by passing legislation that would prevent the creation of local Right to Work zones in the Land of Lincoln, which Gov. Rauner recently vetoed.
Sussex and Sandoval County officials worried about a potential
backlash to passing Right to Work locally should keep in mind that
legislators in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Missouri, and Kentucky–the
states to recently pass Right to Work–have seen no negative electoral
consequences from their vote in favor of Right to Work. In fact, passing
Right to Work isn’t just good policy, it’s good politics, with Gallup
polling finding that over three quarters of Americans believe union membership should be voluntary.
The experience in Wisconsin, one of the most recent states to enact Right to Work, demonstrates that when workers are given the freedom to choose whether to join and fork over their income to a union, workers utilize that freedom and often say no thanks to union bosses. The MacIver Institute, a Wisconsin-based think tank, analyzed what has happened in Wisconsin after workers were granted the freedom to choose:
“Union membership has plummeted in the Badger State in the wake of the Act 10 and the right-to-work reforms led by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled Legislature…The most recent data show union membership statewide has declined from 354,882 members in 2010 to 218,233 in 2016, a decline of 38.5 percent.”
As the MacIver Institute’s Jake Lubenow points out, “When people are allowed the power to choose, they exercise that power.”
Enactment of Right to Work would be good news for Sussex and Sandoval Counties, but would also inspire lawmakers in other states and localities who want to secure worker freedom, stoke economic growth, and promote job creation. Keep an eye on Delaware and New Mexico, where the next battle for worker freedom will be won or lost in the coming weeks.
If Sandoval County implements Right to Work, he expects other New Mexico Counties to follow suit, as occurred in Kentucky.
Illinois, home to one of the worst unfunded pension liabilities in the nation, is a state that desperately needs Right to Work, but there is no chance to pass it statewide with Speaker Mike Madigan (D) in control of the state legislature. That’s why Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) has come out in support of passing Right to Work at the local level as was done in Kentucky and is now being considered in Delaware and New Mexico. Union-backed Illinois lawmakers have responded by passing legislation that would prevent the creation of local Right to Work zones in the Land of Lincoln, which Gov. Rauner recently vetoed.
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner (Photo by John Gress/Getty Images)
The experience in Wisconsin, one of the most recent states to enact Right to Work, demonstrates that when workers are given the freedom to choose whether to join and fork over their income to a union, workers utilize that freedom and often say no thanks to union bosses. The MacIver Institute, a Wisconsin-based think tank, analyzed what has happened in Wisconsin after workers were granted the freedom to choose:
“Union membership has plummeted in the Badger State in the wake of the Act 10 and the right-to-work reforms led by Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled Legislature…The most recent data show union membership statewide has declined from 354,882 members in 2010 to 218,233 in 2016, a decline of 38.5 percent.”
As the MacIver Institute’s Jake Lubenow points out, “When people are allowed the power to choose, they exercise that power.”
Enactment of Right to Work would be good news for Sussex and Sandoval Counties, but would also inspire lawmakers in other states and localities who want to secure worker freedom, stoke economic growth, and promote job creation. Keep an eye on Delaware and New Mexico, where the next battle for worker freedom will be won or lost in the coming weeks.
Patrick Gleason is director of
state affairs at Americans for Tax Reform, and a senior fellow at the
Beacon Center of Tennessee. Follow Patrick on Twitter: @PatrickMGleason
Source: Forbes.com
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