1/12/2012
The New Year is off to an old start – workers rallying at staehouses to defend their rights. Jesse Russell has more.
2012 is starting off much like 2011 with images of concerned citizens filling state houses. This year, instead of the images starting in Wisconsin, they’re starting in Indiana where workers are opposing a Republican plan to turn that state into a so-called “right-to-work” state. The legislation would ban businesses and unions from writing contracts that would require employees to pay dues to the unions that represent them. Last week members of the NFL Players Association challenged legislators to vote against the legislation and this week saw Oklahomans standing with their Indiana counterparts detailing how right-to-work has had a negative impact on their state. Jesse Isbell is an Oklahoma worker:
[Isbell]: "There is no anecdotal or empirical evidence that right-to-work has benefited Oklahoma’s state economy in anyway. The truth is it has driven down wages."
Oklahoma was the 22nd state to pass the legislation. Since that legislation has passed manufacturing jobs continue to move to Mexico and overseas. The most recent company to pack up was Bridgestone Tire where Isbell was an employee of 36 years.
The New Year is off to an old start – workers rallying at staehouses to defend their rights. Jesse Russell has more.2012 is starting off much like 2011 with images of concerned citizens filling state houses. This year, instead of the images starting in Wisconsin, they’re starting in Indiana where workers are opposing a Republican plan to turn that state into a so-called “right-to-work” state.
The legislation would ban businesses and unions from writing contracts that would require employees to pay dues to the unions that represent them.
Last week members of the NFL Players Association challenged legislators to vote against the legislation and this week saw Oklahomans standing with their Indiana counterparts detailing how right-to-work has had a negative impact on their state. Jesse Isbell is an Oklahoma worker who said:
There is no anecdotal or empirical evidence that right-to-work has benefited Oklahoma’s state economy in anyway. The truth is it has driven down wages.
Oklahoma was the 22nd state to pass the legislation. Since that legislation has passed manufacturing jobs continue to move to Mexico and overseas. The most recent company to pack up was Bridgestone Tire where Isbell was an employee of 36 years.
The term"right to work" is misnomer because these laws give workers no inherent right to find work. In the past, the "right to work' laws made paying union dues optional.
Now the GOP is trying to trying to ban the collection of union dues form payroll deductions. The intent is not only to weaken unions , but also to weaken the fund raising of the Democratic party which relies on union contributions.
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