What’s at Stake for Unionized Employers?
Unionized employers have a lot to gain by standing up for workers’ rights and opposing right towork laws:
• Right to work makes it harder for unionized employers to compete for business.
Many unions retain their membership in right to work states, although adding new
bargaining units is made more difficult. This means that while unionized employers stay
unionized, nonunion firms can remain unorganized and gain an even greater competitive
advantage based on low-wage, no-benefit jobs.
• That’s especially true in construction. Unionized construction companies may have the
most to gain from opposing right to work and other attacks on union membership.
Unionized construction companies compete largely on the basis of better quality work
because they provide more training, have fewer injuries on the job and are more
productive. All these competitive advantages are threatened when low-road companies
can drive down wages because of anti-union legislation.
• Right to work reduces consumer spending. Because union membership means higher
wages, higher unionization within a community means consumers have more to spend.
That’s good for local companies, especially those in retail sales and services.
• Right to work brings government interference to private enterprise. A right to work
law takes union security off the bargaining table. In effect, government limits the right of
employers to set the terms and conditions of employment by telling companies and their
workers what they can and can’t bargain over. Labor and management should have the
freedom to agree upon the conditions of work—without the government dictating to them.
Source: AFL-CIO
