Ohio Discussion > Ohio Politics

Ohio "Right-to-Work" Movement

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Hts121:

--- Quote from: Gramarye on February 14, 2012, 06:06:43 AM ---For one thing, there is no right to work the way there is a right to free speech or free assembly.  No one has the obligation to give you a job.

--- End quote ---

Of course not.  My point was that it is not like citizens have to apply for work visas or anything akin to that.  Your 'right to work' (wherever you can find a job you are qualified for) has never been abridged.

It's a conundrum because there really is no middle ground.  No matter what you call the law, its purpose is to effectively destroy the bargaining power of unions in the long term and, in the short term, it allows free-loaders to reap the benefit of collective bargaining without paying union dues.

And, as Gramarye seems to touch on in his response, right to work laws have some negative consequences for free market principles.  The employer's right to exclude should, except in limited circumstances, override any governmental action.

As far as evidence for the whole premise that right to work laws lead to manufacturing booms and better lives for blue collar workers, I would simply point to the last state to enact a right to work law, Oklahoma, and the current state of its manufacturing economy.  Companies are still leaving, manufacturing is still down, unemployment is up, and wages have generally decreased.  These laws work much better when they are more unique to your state and usually only have a short term benefit.  The more they become widespread, even that short term benefit will disappear.

gottaplan:

--- Quote from: Hts121 on February 14, 2012, 07:11:57 AM ---As far as evidence for the whole premise that right to work laws lead to manufacturing booms and better lives for blue collar workers, I would simply point to the last state to enact a right to work law, Oklahoma, and the current state of its manufacturing economy.  Companies are still leaving, manufacturing is still down, unemployment is up, and wages have generally decreased. 
--- End quote ---

I think that's short sighted to look at one single state with a recent perspective.  Take a look at the last decade and the new auto plants and production which have chosen to locate in Mississippi and Alabama, Kentucky, Texas, North & South Carolinas.... BMW, Mercedes Benz, Toyota, Hyundai....   Boeing built a new plant in South Carolina....  add up all the the support and technology firms which are located nearby these facilities....  labor is cheaper there, and those states are gaining population and Ohio and other Midwest (union) states are losing.  We sit around & cheer just because our plants aren't actually closing, but not because some new manufacturing actually opened. 

Hts121:
^Allow me to respond simply by using data from the states you glorified as compared to Ohio.  Not saying there is any connection to 'right to work'.... but since you brought it up....

STATE - UNEMPLOYMENT RATE (Dec. 2011) - Median Income

Mississippi* - 10.4% - $33k

North Carolina - 9.9% - $37k

South Carolina - 9.5% - $37k

Kentucky - 9.1% - $38k

Alabama - 8.1% - $38k

Ohio - 8.1% - $40k

Texas* - 7.8% - $39k

*Texas has over half a million workers employed at or below minimum wage
*Mississippi tied with Texas for highest percentage of minimum wage jobs

Gramarye:
I wouldn't tie the union movement and manufacturing together too closely anymore.  There's obviously a great deal of history there, but unions have spread well beyond the manufacturing sector (and they'd have been foolish to do anything else), while also declining overall.

Realistically, I don't know of anything that would bring a great deal of manufacturing employment back to this country, union or otherwise.  Manufacturing activity is another matter (and, indeed, manufacturing output has risen steadily in America even as employment in the sector has declined).  Technological advances have made it possible to run a pretty sizable factory with a lean staff.

I used to think that something truly dramatic, like a civil war in China, would bring a lot of it back here, but I think it would just spur further and faster automation technology advancements.

Retail, transportation, landscaping, construction, and healthcare jobs are harder to outsource (or automate, though retail is working on that).  Education, for the moment, is harder to outsource or automate as well.

Boreas:

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