Message From Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa

An online poll by the St. Louis Journal shows that even it's business and professional readers do not favor a so-called right-to-work (for less)  law in Missouri.

As the Labor Tribune went to press, with a 3,347 votes, cast, 76 percent were against and only 24 percent "for" adopting the anti-worker law in Missouri. The first bill introduced last week by the Republicans in the state legislature was a so-called right to work bill.

The law's impact would be on all Missouri workers. In states with so-called right-to work laws, wages and benefits are lower than in states without these laws. RTW does only one thing well: it facilities lower wages and benefits for workers and higher profits for employers.

Once again Right to Work is raising it's ugly head or should we say right to work for less. This bill was defeated soundly in 1978 in Missouri and we look forward to doing it again should it come to a vote.

To set the record (and the name) straight, right to work for less doesn’t guarantee any rights. In fact, by weakening unions and collective bargaining, it destroys the best job security protection that exists: the union contract. Meanwhile, it allows workers to pay nothing and get all the benefits of union membership. Right to work laws say unions must represent all eligible employees, whether they pay dues or not. This forces unions to use their time and members’ dues money to provide union benefits to free riders who are not willing to pay their fair share.

Right to work laws lower wages for everyone. The average worker in a right to work state makes about $5,333 a year less than workers in other states ($35,500 compared with $30,167).[1] Weekly wages are $72 greater in free-bargaining states than in right to work states ($621 versus $549).[2] Working families in states without right to work laws have higher wages and benefit from healthier tax bases that improve their quality of life.

Federal law already protects workers who don’t want to join a union to get or keep their jobs. Supporters claim right to work laws protect employees from being forced to join unions. Don’t be fooled—federal law already does this, as well as protecting nonmembers from paying for union activities that violate their religious or political beliefs. This individual freedom argument is a sham.

Right to work endangers safety and health standards that protect workers on the job by weakening unions that help to ensure worker safety by fighting for tougher safety rules. According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of workplace deaths is 51 percent higher in states with right to work, where unions can’t speak up on behalf of workers.