{"id":26301,"date":"2012-02-20T07:41:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-20T13:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=26301"},"modified":"2012-02-20T07:50:50","modified_gmt":"2012-02-20T13:50:50","slug":"the-right-to-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=26301","title":{"rendered":"The Right To Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlike most Democrats, I’ve been a union member. \u00a0I grew up in a union household. \u00a0I’ve got less against unions that most people.<\/p>\n

Of course, in the private sector unions are largely irrelevant, especially outside of manufacturing and the large-scale trades. \u00a0I’ve been in the private sector my whole career, and I’ve only encountered a few union shops, much less members. \u00a0I was in a union for the duration of my only government job (a semester as a community college adjunct instructor), which is in keeping with most Americans’ experience; while unions are under 8% of the private sector workforce, they’re around 40% in government<\/a>, mostly AFSCME, SEIU and the various teachers and academic unions. \u00a0About one in nine Americans overall are involved in unions.<\/p>\n

And a large part of even that is because of the “closed shop”; in about half of American states, unions are allowed to require that industries only hire union workers.<\/p>\n

And that’s what “Right to Work” is all about. \u00a0Under the closed-shop system, the unions never have to make a case to the workers for why<\/em>\u00a0they should join the union; it’s like it or lump it. \u00a0In Right to Work states, they have to prove their value to the workers.<\/p>\n

The closed shop is all about the money, of course;\u00a0\u00a0your dues money goes where the union wants it to go; while a little under half of union members identify as Republicans, 92% of their political donations go to Democrats, who in turn keep passing laws (when they’re in power) to make unions more powerful. \u00a0It’s a mutual back-scratching arrangement between the Democrat party and its biggest institutional supporters.<\/p>\n

Minnesota is a “closed shop” state, meaning that legislators who owed their election to union money passed laws allowing industries, and government, to establish closed shops – legal monopolies, if you will, in the labor market. \u00a0In exchange, naturally, for keeping the money coming.<\/p>\n

Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature are working to abolish the “closed shop” laws, which do very little to represent workers, and even less to create jobs (as a rule they cost jobs), but plenty to keep one political party awash in involuntary contributions.<\/p>\n

The bill is currently in play:<\/p>\n

St. Paul- Senator Dave Thompson (R-Lakeville) and Representative Steve Drazkowski (R-Mazeppa) announced the introduction of a constitutional amendment that would give Minnesotans the opportunity to vote on whether or not Minnesota workers should have the freedom to join a union or not. Currently, if someone is hired by a company with a collective bargaining agreement in place, that person is required to join the union or pay fair share dues.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Minnesota law, if a worker refuses to pay union dues, they are fired. This isn’t fair and it’s definitely not free,\u201d Representative Drazkowski said. \u201cTo me, this is the most important pro-jobs bill we can pass this session. It’s estimated that had Minnesota passed this amendment 30 years ago, the average Minnesota working family would be earning an additional $7,000 or more every year. Nearly 70% of Minnesotans support employee freedom – let’s allow the people to decide whether they want to guarantee this fundamental right in our constitution.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Minnesota’s left – the unions, and the DFL and “non-profits” they own, like “Take Action Minnesota” – are telling you that most Minnesotans oppose the amendment. \u00a0It’s a bald-faced lie, of course; Minnesotans support “right to work” legislation by a 2:1 margin according to Survey USA<\/a>, and closer to 3:1 according to Rasmussen.<\/p>\n

Unions make sense – but only as an element of a free market, a means of helping labor market and price its services. \u00a0But there is no reason that unions should be a de-facto arm of government (or, as they are in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, vice versa).<\/p>\n

So it makes sense, right?<\/p>\n

Here’s the problem<\/strong>. \u00a0Some Republicans in the Minnesota Senate are going squishy. \u00a0It’s understandable, to an extent; going after the closed shop is going to stir up a hornets nest of union activism and money. \u00a0No legislator, least of all one in a “Moderate” district, wants to face that. \u00a0But with right-to-work legislation popping up all over the Midwest, even the unions, rich as they are, have their limits. The time to go after the Closed Shop and push for Right to Work is now, because for the first time, we won’t be alone. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>If not now. when?<\/p>\n

So if you support Right to Work, you need to do two things:<\/p>\n

Contact your State Senator and encourage them to support Right to Work<\/strong>. \u00a0You can bet they’re getting an earful from people in purple T-shirts; if the unions do one thing well, it’s make their people put on t-shirts and go out and wave signs and chant and stomp their feet and act like they care about politics<\/a>. \u00a0They need to hear from the vast majority of Minnesotans who speak for the rest of us. \u00a0Find your Senator<\/a>; drop them an email, or (much) better yet, call or write a paper letter<\/strong>. \u00a0Encourage them to support the Right to Work amendment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Contact the Senators on the Jobs And Economic Growth Committee<\/strong>. \u00a0They’ll be holding hearings on the bill, mostly likely this week. \u00a0They break out into three groups:<\/p>\n