Right to work should be a universal one

Stephen Moore:

Right-to-work is back in the spotlight, thanks to the recent Supreme Court decision in Harris v. Quinn.

The court ruled that Illinois home care workers cannot be compelled to pay union dues to the Service Employees International Union if those workers are not union members.

This was a limited victory for worker rights against coercive unionization and forced payment of union dues of all employees. Most Americans would probably be surprised to learn that in 2014 this is not already a protected right in most states.

In 26 states, workers can be compelled to join a union and pay dues at a union shop whether they wish to or not. Under the 1935 National Labor Relations Act, workers can even be forced to pay union dues for partisan political activities with which they don’t agree.

The one exception is that under the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, states may pass right-to-work laws that protect workers from being required to join the union as a condition of employment. With the recent passage of right-to-work laws in Michigan and Indiana, there are now 24 states with this workplace freedom, while the other 26 states still allow forced unionization.

In our new book, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of States, (with Arthur Laffer, Travis Brown, and Rex Sinquefield), we find that these right-to-work states are performing much better economically than the non-right-to-work states.

Many businesses refuse to locate a new plant in a state that doesn't offer this worker and employer protection against coercive powers of unions. It was no geographical accident thatBoeing built its new assembly plant in South Carolina and not in its home state of Washington and why the unions and the Obama administration tried to block the move. South Carolina is a right-to-work state, Washington isn't.
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The Illinois case was an example of the corrupt influence that unions and Democrats have over workers.  It becomes a form of an indirect kickback to Democrat politicians who force workers to give money to unions who in turn donate a portion of that money to Democrats.  It is plain and simple corruption and one of the reasons those states are less prosperous.   The piece goes on to demonstrate that the growth in jobs in this country is in the right to work states.