Places where "right-to-work" is actually popular

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Half the states have a "right-to-work" law, but are there are any states where it's actually popular?

I can see something like Utah, since Utah has been so deep in right-wing causes for such a long time. What about counties in other states? Some suburban counties in some Southern states I can definitely see. Think Shelby County, Ala., and the like.

The county in Kentucky where I would think it would be most popular is Boone County, but recently when they passed their own "right-to-work" ordinance, pretty much all the townsfolk in the room opposed it.

[Ebsy]

Mostly conservative rural areas where they hate Democrats, and by extension, unions.

[Zioneer]

Half the states have a "right-to-work" law, but are there are any states where it's actually popular?

I can see something like Utah, since Utah has been so deep in right-wing causes for such a long time. What about counties in other states? Some suburban counties in some Southern states I can definitely see. Think Shelby County, Ala., and the like.

The county in Kentucky where I would think it would be most popular is Boone County, but recently when they passed their own "right-to-work" ordinance, pretty much all the townsfolk in the room opposed it.

Honestly, Utah never had much of a labor movement to begin with. Plus we went straight from rural to suburban without an urban (and thus labor-friendly) part of our history. And we don't really have specific industries that urbanize well like Nevada and culinary unions or whatnot.

Though we were liberal in the way other rural states were liberal during the Great Depression, we voted for FDR every time, and Truman the one time.

Oh, and sorry about Joe Hill, that was our bad. Mormons and non-Mormons alike here in Utah both hated and also respected him. More hated him than respected him though.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

The South at one time was a hotbed of union activism. The Great Textile Strike of 1934 and its aftermath changed all that permanently. The unions overpromised what they could do and as a result created a permanent distrust that lasted even when later New Deal legislation at last created the conditions under which industrial organizing had a real chance of success.

[Famous Mortimer]

Right to work laws are incredibly popular, having like 70% support from the American public in general.

Part of this is due to the loaded name no doubt, but it would be willfully ignorant to believe that was the whole reason.

Unions are not common anymore and most people's interactions with them are bad. Usually the only union members people meet are DMV workers and other civil servant jobsworths. For this reason, unions seem to (and often do) protect incompetence.

Additionally, the union most poor people are likely to be forced into, if they are ever forced into a union, is the United Food and Commercial Workers, which is evil and will take $500 a year from you in return for "negotiating" a wage which is usually lower than competing non-union business. So given the choice between being forced to join a crappy union and keeping your pay, people choose to keep their pay.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Right to work laws are incredibly popular, having like 70% support from the American public in general.

Hahaha. No.

"Right-to-work" lost a referendum in Colorado just a few years ago.

[Mr. Reactionary]

I live on the North Carolina border. Although most of the factories on my side of the border have already closed because of NAFTA, there are still some across the border in NC. My uncle for example works at a Koch bros factor near Stoneville. I hear a lot of NRTW Foundation commercials around here, and its rare that people vote for unionization.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

[Bandit3 the Worker]

That poll didn't ask about "right-to-work." It asked about mandatory membership, which is different.

[Clark Kent]

That poll didn't ask about "right-to-work." It asked about mandatory membership, which is different.

You're moving the goalposts now.

[windjammer]

That poll didn't ask about "right-to-work." It asked about mandatory membership, which is different.

You're moving the goalposts now.

He's right on this. Mandatory membership and "right-to-work" aren't the same thing.

[Maxwell]

Probably wealthy areas where right-to-work laws don't really affect them.

[DemPGH]

I would think undereducated White rural areas who do not understand it and are only reacting to the moniker and the good God-fearing politician folk who peddle it, and upper income White areas who very much understand it.

[Kingpoleon]

I support not having to join a Union to work, yes. I don't support any restrictions on unions that wouldn't be placed on health insurance companies, for example, and big businesses. I consider myself a pro-union person, but their ideological purity on this doesn't allow the basic goal to emerge.

[tpfkaw]

Michigan

[Mr. Reactionary]

Just for clarification, right to work does not protect your right to not be forced to join a union in order to hold a job. The implied right not to associate under the 1st Amendment probably protects that, at least as far as state mandated unionization goes. Right to work says if you exercise your right to not join a union, you can likewise not be required to pay protection money to whatever union or collective bargaining unit may represent other workers at your place of employment. In half of the states, there is automatic payroll deductions for costs unions purportedly incur to "represent" non-union employees. So you can't be forced to join a union, or to participate in union activities, or to fund union activities unrelated to general grievance representation under the Constitution. Right to work laws expand worker rights by saying non-union members may not be required to fund ANY union agency fees.

[MK]

Just for clarification, right to work does not protect your right to not be forced to join a union in order to hold a job. The implied right not to associate under the 1st Amendment probably protects that, at least as far as state mandated unionization goes. Right to work says if you exercise your right to not join a union, you can likewise not be required to pay protection money to whatever union or collective bargaining unit may represent other workers at your place of employment. In half of the states, there is automatic payroll deductions for costs unions purportedly incur to "represent" non-union employees. So you can't be forced to join a union, or to participate in union activities, or to fund union activities unrelated to general grievance representation under the Constitution. Right to work laws expand worker rights by saying non-union members may not be required to fund ANY union agency fees.

Its not all about "fees or dues" 

Right-to-work laws are designed mostly as a power broker over the underclassed poor in the south.   Ideal being that the good ole boy system that's common place in the south would be challenged if you allowed unionization. It would give the workers power negations like wages etc...

For example Ive worked for an employer that had a policy that if you attempted or organize work stoppage or start a union you would be terminated.  I am not making this up either, weather or not it was enforced is a different story as coworkers did talk about unions all the time.  I might also add that this same employer had you sign a " training reimbursement agreement" as they called it . It simply stated you would have to "pay" back training expenses if you resigned or quit before a certain time period, so basically pay to leave.   This was easily defeated when challenged in court but still the fact they would even attempt.


Right-to-work in the south has little to do with paying dues its more about power in the hands owners.

[Ebsy]

Let's not pretend right to work is about anything other than destroying unions.

[VPH]

Well, I'm sure in many parts of Kansas it is. Unions were never very strong in much of the Western portion of the state, or for that matter, in the Northeastern corner. Unions were at one point very powerful in Wichita among aviation workers, and still do retain some pull among them. In Crawford County, back when mining was prominent in that region, unions were powerful, even proving key to voting for Eugene Debs in 1912.

[Bojack Horseman]

Michigan

Right to work is not popular in Michigan. Proposal 2 was about collective bargaining and was an all-around bad piece of legislation. Much like the marijuana initiative in Ohio that failed spectacularly, despite the majority supporting marijuana legalization. Snyder's approval rating plummeted after the RTW debacle, and if we put a constitutional amendment to a vote to reverse the RTW bill, it'd pass by an overwhelming margin.

[pho]

Right-to-work is broadly popular, but more so in conservative states where unions in general are toxic.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

"Right to work" is like "Patriot Act". It's ridiculously popular until people realize that its name is the opposite of what it does.

[DC Al Fine]

Additionally, the union most poor people are likely to be forced into, if they are ever forced into a union, is the United Food and Commercial Workers, which is evil and will take $500 a year from you in return for "negotiating" a wage which is usually lower than competing non-union business. So given the choice between being forced to join a crappy union and keeping your pay, people choose to keep their pay.

Indeed. I was briefly a member of a union, and I just loved paying unions dues to make $1/hr less than my private sector friend in a similar job.

[Classic Conservative]

My House

[Badger]

Additionally, the union most poor people are likely to be forced into, if they are ever forced into a union, is the United Food and Commercial Workers, which is evil and will take $500 a year from you in return for "negotiating" a wage which is usually lower than competing non-union business. So given the choice between being forced to join a crappy union and keeping your pay, people choose to keep their pay.

Indeed. I was briefly a member of a union, and I just loved paying unions dues to make $1/hr less than my private sector friend in a similar job.

GROSSLY uncharacteristic pay discrepancy if true.