Which states will be "right-to-work" in 2025?

[TNF]

As of 2014, the following states (shown in red) are so-called "right-to-work" states:

What do you think that map will look like in 2025? My best guess is that either the whole country will be "right-to-work" (because I really can't imagine any situation in which the next GOP President and GOP-controlled Congress doesn't sign off on a national "right-to-work" bill), or that it will look something like this:

I also really doubt, barring unforeseen circumstances (like the outburst of 1930s-style mass unionization drive) that any state will still allow public sector employees to collectively bargain.

[Türkisblau]

Probably one of the saddest maps that I've seen in a while. It's amazing how many people have been brainwashed into thinking that unions are a negative thing.

[TNF]

Probably one of the saddest maps that I've seen in a while. It's amazing how many people have been brainwashed into thinking that unions are a negative thing.

Not entirely surprising, though, given that the most vicious anti-labor bloodsuckers own the printing presses, the television networks, the backbone of the Internet, etc. Labor is never going to get a fair shake from the press of its enemies.

[Illuminati Blood Drinker]

...how is Wisconsin not "right-to-work" already, with Scott "Gas All Workers" Walker at the head? Did he fall asleep at the wheel or something?

[TNF]

...how is Wisconsin not "right-to-work" already, with Scott "Gas All Workers" Walker at the head? Did he fall asleep at the wheel or something?

It's making the rounds now.

[AggregateDemand]

Probably one of the saddest maps that I've seen in a while. It's amazing how many people have been brainwashed into thinking that unions are a negative thing.

Unions have proven themselves to be a bad thing. Closed-shop laws were shady from the get-go, but the incompetence of unions has made closed-shop intolerable.

Most American unions aren't actually unions anyway. They are often just greedy capitalist organizations who hate the market-value of the labor they represent. They are falling apart for a reason. It isn't a conspiracy.

[TNF]

Probably one of the saddest maps that I've seen in a while. It's amazing how many people have been brainwashed into thinking that unions are a negative thing.

Unions have proven themselves to be a bad thing. Closed-shop laws were shady from the get-go, but the incompetence of unions has made closed-shop intolerable.

Most American unions aren't actually unions anyway. They are often just greedy capitalist organizations who hate the market-value of the labor they represent. They are falling apart for a reason. It isn't a conspiracy.

Unions have proven themselves to be a bad thing...for capitalist profits. That's definitely true, because unions have time and time again won higher wages, shorter hours, and better conditions for their members. The closed shop is only "shady" if you believe that freeloaders should be able to benefit from the hard-won gains of the labor movement on the picket line and at the bargaining table without having to pay dues to the organizations responsible for making those gains possible. It's asking for something for nothing, which I assume as a Republican, you'd normally be up in arms about, except of course when it comes to capitalist profits or union labor.

Your second paragraph makes little sense. The point of a labor organization is to defend workers against capitalist exploitation. They do so by attempting to eradicate those conditions which make them miserable in the workplace. If that's a conspiracy, so be it. We need more 'conspiracies' by workers to raise wages, improve conditions, and shorten hours.

[Türkisblau]

Probably one of the saddest maps that I've seen in a while. It's amazing how many people have been brainwashed into thinking that unions are a negative thing.

Unions have proven themselves to be a bad thing. Closed-shop laws were shady from the get-go, but the incompetence of unions has made closed-shop intolerable.

Most American unions aren't actually unions anyway. They are often just greedy capitalist organizations who hate the market-value of the labor they represent. They are falling apart for a reason. It isn't a conspiracy.

Unions are the entire reason that we have the minimum wage, sick days, work holidays, no child labor, etc... Not to even mention that our economy was booming under high union participation.

Of course, you would sacrifice all these things for the sake of the "free market."

[Indy Texas]

It would require some kind of impetus - eg. the decline of a major industry and a poor economy, leading to the enactment of right-to-work being predicated on being "more competitive."

I'd imagine that West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and possibly Pennsylvania will eventually go that way, the first two in an absolutely futile effort to rescue the coal industry. Missouri certainly has the political wherewithal to do so easily but there's not much animating force to do so.

Conversely, I could actually see Nevada going the other way and doing away with right-to-work at the behest of hospitality workers in Las Vegas and Reno. They're in the unique bargaining situation of being workers whose work cannot be offshored to other countries and cannot be replaced by technology.

[TNF]

Probably one of the saddest maps that I've seen in a while. It's amazing how many people have been brainwashed into thinking that unions are a negative thing.

Unions have proven themselves to be a bad thing. Closed-shop laws were shady from the get-go, but the incompetence of unions has made closed-shop intolerable.

Most American unions aren't actually unions anyway. They are often just greedy capitalist organizations who hate the market-value of the labor they represent. They are falling apart for a reason. It isn't a conspiracy.

Unions are the entire reason that we have the minimum wage, sick days, work holidays, no child labor, etc... Not to even mention that our economy was booming under high union participation.

Of course, you would sacrifice all these things for the sake of the "free market."

I think it's a mistake to attribute the 'Golden Years' of 1945 to 1975 to high union density alone (there were a lot of factors going into those, included but not limited to: the position of American capitalism compared to potential rivals that had been wiped out during the Second World War, cheap and plentiful energy, the use of sectoral economic planning, etc.) but there's no denying that without the heightened level of class antagonism and labor organization in the 1930s, those 'Golden Years' wouldn't have happened because there wouldn't have been an impetus for the state to placate those actors by expanding social provision in whatever way that it could, given the alternative.

It would require some kind of impetus - eg. the decline of a major industry and a poor economy, leading to the enactment of right-to-work being predicated on being "more competitive."

I'd imagine that West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio and possibly Pennsylvania will eventually go that way, the first two in an absolutely futile effort to rescue the coal industry. Missouri certainly has the political wherewithal to do so easily but there's not much animating force to do so.

Conversely, I could actually see Nevada going the other way and doing away with right-to-work at the behest of hospitality workers in Las Vegas and Reno. They're in the unique bargaining situation of being workers whose work cannot be offshored to other countries cannot be replaced by technology.

Nevada is certainly an interesting case. It's one of the more densely unionized "right-to-work" states, but I would really be surprised if it did end up going the other way. No state has repealed a "right-to-work" law since the 1970s, to my knowledge, and back then labor was probably at its height in terms of political influence within the Democratic Party.

[Türkisblau]

Probably one of the saddest maps that I've seen in a while. It's amazing how many people have been brainwashed into thinking that unions are a negative thing.

Unions have proven themselves to be a bad thing. Closed-shop laws were shady from the get-go, but the incompetence of unions has made closed-shop intolerable.

Most American unions aren't actually unions anyway. They are often just greedy capitalist organizations who hate the market-value of the labor they represent. They are falling apart for a reason. It isn't a conspiracy.

Unions are the entire reason that we have the minimum wage, sick days, work holidays, no child labor, etc... Not to even mention that our economy was booming under high union participation.

Of course, you would sacrifice all these things for the sake of the "free market."

I think it's a mistake to attribute the 'Golden Years' of 1945 to 1975 to high union density alone (there were a lot of factors going into those, included but not limited to: the position of American capitalism compared to potential rivals that had been wiped out during the Second World War, cheap and plentiful energy, the use of sectoral economic planning, etc.) but there's no denying that without the heightened level of class antagonism and labor organization in the 1930s, those 'Golden Years' wouldn't have happened because there wouldn't have been an impetus for the state to placate those actors by expanding social provision in whatever way that it could, given the alternative.

I totally agree with your analysis; I didn't mean to make it seem like I was giving unions as the only reason. It's just something to mention that during our largest peacetime expansion, we had high union participation a much a higher proportion of profits were going to the workers then, compared to now.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Doubtful that a national right-to-work law would get passed, especially not in the next ten years.  Those who are in states that perceive it to be an advantage want to keep their advantage, not put everyone on a level playing field with respect to these laws.

[AggregateDemand]

Unions are the entire reason that we have the minimum wage, sick days, work holidays, no child labor, etc... Not to even mention that our economy was booming under high union participation.

Of course, you would sacrifice all these things for the sake of the "free market."

Our economy was booming when we had no international competition, and that was when union bargaining power was its highest. In the modern global economy, US unions have bargained themselves out of the labor market. First they were disgraced by the Japanese, then undermined by NAFTA, and finally killed by China, only to be saved by TARP and other bailout funding.

They've made fools of themselves, and we have no way of knowing precisely how many manufacturing jobs were unnecessarily lost. Furthermore, most the federal government now manages pension, legacy healthcare, unemployment, disability, etc for everyone. Unions are relatively pointless. Workers have a right to join them if they please, but closed-shop laws are just lingering evidence of our post-WWII hubris.

[Kraxner]

What do you think that map will look like in 2025?

Hopefully all of them by 2025. But most realistic is that the rest of the mid-west will become right to work states while there will be holdouts in the west coast and northeast which take time to become right to work states, perhaps even years past 2025.

[free my dawg]

As of 2014, the following states (shown in red) are so-called "right-to-work" states:

What do you think that map will look like in 2025? My best guess is that either the whole country will be "right-to-work" (because I really can't imagine any situation in which the next GOP President and GOP-controlled Congress doesn't sign off on a national "right-to-work" bill), or that it will look something like this:

I also really doubt, barring unforeseen circumstances (like the outburst of 1930s-style mass unionization drive) that any state will still allow public sector employees to collectively bargain.

They tried RTW when they had a supermajority in NH, and it failed. I don't see it ever passing here.

[pbrower2a]

If the Republicans fully consolidate power in 2017, all states will be "Duty-to-Starve" states by federal law.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

"Right-to-work" is unconstitutional, but that hasn't stopped it before.

On the other hand, the President could issue an executive order that says unions don't have to provide services to workers who won't pay their fair share fees.

[pbrower2a]

Probably one of the saddest maps that I've seen in a while. It's amazing how many people have been brainwashed into thinking that unions are a negative thing.

Unions have proven themselves to be a bad thing. Closed-shop laws were shady from the get-go, but the incompetence of unions has made closed-shop intolerable.

Most American unions aren't actually unions anyway. They are often just greedy capitalist organizations who hate the market-value of the labor they represent. They are falling apart for a reason. It isn't a conspiracy.

The Master Class simply wants all but themselves to suffer for their unrestrained greed. More profit through longer hours for less under brutal working conditions -- that's the fascist way. Don't fool yourself: fascism will be no better in America because it is American than a tornado will be better than one that strikes outside of America because it is an American tornado.

[The_Doctor]

I hope nationally right to work on the federal level is the law of the land.  I want to return to the Calvin and Grace Coolidge days.

I have never hated things more than I hate labor unions…

[IceSpear]

Well since there's no difference between Hillary Clinton and the Republicans, presumably she or the next Republican president will be signing nationwide right to work in 2017 or 2018.

[politicus]

I have never hated things more than I hate labor unions…

1) Why? 2) Do you got a job?

[TNF]

I hope nationally right to work on the federal level is the law of the land.  I want to return to the Calvin and Grace Coolidge days.

I have never hated things more than I hate labor unions…

Yeah, that was a grand old time, wasn't it?

[pbrower2a]

I hope nationally right to work on the federal level is the law of the land.  I want to return to the Calvin and Grace Coolidge days.

I have never hated things more than I hate labor unions…

1920s -- a slum of a decade, an era of corruption, mindless hedonism, social stasis, and destructive speculation. Coolidge kept the screws tight on German reparations, which harshened economic conditions in Germany -- which may have led to one of the greatest political disasters of inhuman history, the rise of Adolf Hitler. 

Labor unions give workers a stake in capitalism; without them workers get stepped on so often and so hard that working people might as well have Karl Marx as their savior. 

[Simfan34]

Hopefully all of them, and public sector unions will have been strangled to death.

[pbrower2a]

Hopefully all of them, and public sector unions will have been strangled to death.

Unions made the American dream possible. It is telling that Nazi Germany quickly destroyed independent trade unions and turned German workers into serfs in all but name, as they were unable to change jobs except with the consent of their employer and could be sent to brutal labor camps in which they toiled to exhaustion on starvation rations if they faltered or showed any signs of dissent. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness became irrelevant in the worker's Hell that was the Third Reich.

Indeed the bulk of the inmates of Nazi labor camps in the mid 1930s were workers who failed to meet production quotas or other demands of the plutocrats who profiteered from slave-labor conditions. Of course Nazi Germany was more infamous for its military aggression, its brutal suppression of dissent, its destruction of independent thought, and above all else mass murder. But maybe we need to remember that such labor camps as Auschwitz (it was intended to work people to death, and people unfit for labor were 'selected' for quick murder) got their start in the labor camps in which the only means of exit were either to endorse plutocracy at its absolute worst or die.

When the Americans, British, and French liberated northwestern and southern Germany they quickly authorized the organization of labor unions. The western Allies trusted working people more than they trusted even the educated elites and small-business who had often been corrupted.