"Sadly today the people of Michigan became the latest to fall victim to the lies, deception and false promises of so-called "right to work. As we witnessed in Indiana, the forces of corporate greed will stop at nothing to silence workers' voices in order to drive down wages and increase their profits.
The playbook is largely the same. Elect a governor, who promises not to support this divisive and unnecessary legislation, only to go back on his word. Secure a legislature dominated by one party. Bring in out of state interest groups to spend wheelbarrows of money on advertising to confuse the issue. And, finally, shut the public out of the legislative process by barring public input, ignoring independent research and even locking the doors of the Statehouse.
It begs the question, if "right to work" is the silver bullet its proponents claim it to be, then why is it only passed into law under such undemocratic circumstances?
The answer is clear. "Right to work" is a lie. It has nothing to do with economic development or jobs. It's about power and politics. Corporations want to lower wages and undermine working conditions and politicians want to punish those who dare to disagree with them.
Since passage in Indiana, the governor and the laws' proponents have continued the deception with false claims that companies are moving to the state as a result. In Indiana, we've seen firsthand the pressure put on companies to say this legislation impacted their decisions by state officials who make financial rewards to them when one was brave enough to stand up and deny it played a role. No matter their claims, the truth is that no employer has gone on record saying that such legislation was the determinative factor in a decision to locate to Indiana. Not one.
Hoosiers stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Michigan as we fight to repeal this bad law and to restore the rights of working people. Indiana has passed and repealed it once before, and we will repeal it again. And, so will Michigan.
The fight has just begun."
The Indiana State AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) is a federation of 800 local unions across the state belonging to 50 International Unions. In total, the Indiana State AFL-CIO represents more than 300,000 working Hoosiers.
For more information on please visit www.inaflcio.org [ http://www.inaflcio.org ] or call 1-800-433-8423.
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