Bluegrass Beacon: Right-to-work laws good for unions, too
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Labor-union workers wearing ugly green t-shirts verbally accosted me at the end of a recent news conference in the Capitol Annex announcing the filing of right-to-work legislation in Kentucky – something employees in 24 other states enjoy.
They suggested that supporters, including myself, of allowing Kentucky workers the freedom to decide whether or not to join a labor union without it affecting their ability to get or keep a job are wrong on two fronts: (1) we don’t care about their jobs or futures, and (2) we overstate the positive economic impact that a right-to-work law would have in the Bluegrass State.
I requested that one very emotional lady in the group who said she works for Jefferson County Public Schools provide me with credible evidence to support her claims that right-to-work policies don’t improve employment and incomes.
I gave her my card. She promised to send me the information and make her case. I’m still waiting for her email.
A tall blustery gentleman accompanying her shouted out to the distinguished group of legislators and business leaders at the conclusion of the press conference: “Why don’t you care about our jobs?”
He repeated that several times as he moved aggressively toward lawmakers and their guests at the front of the room while jabbing his finger toward them defiantly, even as he obviously experienced a dramatic rise in blood pressure. Fortunately, he was stopped from reaching the front before he calmed down by the sheer size of the crowd of right-to-work supporters who packed the room.
Considering how upset this gentleman (he wouldn’t give his name) was just with that group of reasonable Kentuckians, who simply want to give workers a choice concerning union membership, I could only speculate as to what his reaction might be toward a fellow Kentuckian crossing a picket line to provide for his family.
I also wonder if rank-and-file union members – those actually doing the hard work on the floors and in the factories every day and not necessarily the bosses obsessed with left-wing political campaigns – might be missing a great opportunity by opposing a right-to-work policy in Kentucky.
After all, membership in labor unions grew the most last year in right-to-work states.
Kentucky Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Dave Adkisson noted that union membership grew faster in neighboring Tennessee in 2013 than any other state. Unions in the Volunteer State added 31,000 members and grew by a whopping 25 percent just last year.
Union membership increased by more than 19 percent in Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina and by more than 13 percent in Virginia – another of Kentucky’s neighbors.
“So this is not a union-busting bill to try to get rid of unions or union membership,” Adkisson rightly said. “It actually is for economic prosperity – where unions would have a greater opportunity to organize in plants because you’ve got a growing economy.”
Why would unions deny themselves such an opportunity?
You will never convince me that union members don’t want a better life for their families or their children to be able to find a good job in Kentucky when they graduate.
You also will never convince me that Kentucky’s rank-and-file union members are not as fiercely independent as Daniel Boone and his fellow pioneers who bridged the Cumberland Gap in the 18th century and first appeared on the scene of this great commonwealth we know as “Kentucky.”
I also refuse to accept the notion that descendants of such a great pioneer – who came here in the first place because of his passion for freedom – will, in the end, deny their fellow Kentuckians the right to make their own choices and determine their own destinies.
Jim Waters is president of the Bluegrass Institute, Kentucky’s free-market think tank. Reach him at jwaters@freedomkentucky.com. Read previously published columns at www.bipps.org.