Why We Fight

High Cost of Forced Unionism Borne by Every American

As a result of six freedom-crushing provisions in federal labor law, currently there are eight million working Americans who must pay union dues or “fees,” or risk losing their jobs.

But employees who are forced to surrender part of their paychecks to union lords are only the first victims of governmentally-imposed compulsory unionism.

Forced unionism festers “hate-the-boss” class warfare and stifles productivity, rendering many businesses uncompetitive and sending huge numbers of working people to the unemployment office. Other businesses survive only by raising prices, making it harder for young families to pay the rent, put food on the table, and clothe their children. When police officers and firefighters stand aside at the behest of union kingpins, every citizen becomes hostage to the specter of unchecked crime and conflagrations.

The goal of the union elite is simple: to control workers.

And by controlling working people of all trades and professions, they seek to control the economic and political destiny of the United States.

Union Bosses Seek Total Control Over American Political Process

Thanks to its government-sanctioned privilege to collect tribute every month, grabbing an estimated $10 billion in forced dues annually from workers, union members and non-members alike, Big Labor has a continuous stream of funds to pour into the electoral campaigns of its hand-picked lackeys. Left unchallenged and unfettered by the National Right to Work Committee and its 2.2 million members, union power brokers would achieve complete domination of the American government.

In fact, recent hearings before the House Oversight Committee revealed that total union-boss money funneled into federal elections in presidential campaign years is as high as $500 million, nearly three times the reported contributions by non-union PACs. The estimate was furnished by Rutgers University economics Professor Leo Troy, who pointed out most of the union political machine’s spending goes unreported.

It is funneled into such things as phone banks, get-out-the-vote drives, and salaries for full-time campaign “volunteers.”

Union Violence Takes Place Every Day

Based on scholarly reviews of police and company records, it is estimated over 90,000 incidents of union violence have taken place since 1975. Those who have stood up to union kingpins have had their tires slashed, their homes vandalized, received death threats, been stabbed or beaten, or even paid for their courage with their life.

Amazingly, federal law exempts union officials from prosecution for extortion and violence committed in pursuit of so-called “legitimate union objectives.” Without the efforts of the Right to Work Committee and like-minded Americans, the bombings, arson and bloodshed carried out in the name of “union solidarity” will continue to go unpunished.

Right to Work: Rx for Economic Health

Right to Work members have been instrumental in the passage of many of the existing 24 state Right to Work laws and in lobbying efforts to pass more such laws.

A state Right to Work law makes union dues payment voluntary and protects its citizens from the forced-dues provisions in federal law.

Flourishing competition, thriving creativity, and soaring productivity in Right to Work states have created more jobs and economic growth than in forced-unionism states.

Moreover, residents of states without Right to Work laws pay 25% more for food, housing, health care, transportation, utilities, property taxes, and college tuition than residents of Right to Work states, according to a study by George Mason University economist James Bennett. Dr. Bennett found a typical urban family in a Right to Work state has over $2800 more in after-tax purchasing power than its counterpart in a state unprotected from federally-imposed forced union dues.

What is the Right to Work Committee?

A coalition of 2.6 million Americans, united by one belief:

No one should be forced to pay tribute to a union to get or keep a job.

Right to Work Committee Wins Victories for Liberty

Committee members are veterans of many battles against legislation that grant union officials special powers and privileges, suffocating worker liberty and crippling U.S. competitiveness.

In 1999, Committee members orchestrated the first roll-back in history of a state law empowering government union officials as monopoly-bargaining agents for government employees in contract negotiations, effectively retiring the state authorization for public-sector forced unionism in New Mexico.

In 1995, Right to Work efforts helped bring about the first ever repeal of a state law authorizing forced union dues for teachers, as the Indiana legislature overrode a veto by then-Governor Evan Bayh, a union-boss puppet.

Organized Labor’s 1991-94 power grab to enact U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy’s Pushbutton Strike Bill came up against the Committee’s popularly supported campaign to defeat it. This bill would have barred employers from offering permanent jobs to workers hired during strikes. Committee members, inundating Congress with an estimated two million petitions, postcards, and phone calls, thwarted the bill in the Senate.

In 1986, Right to Work members rallied to stop the Senate from passing the Construction Forced Unionism Bill, which would have herded hundreds of thousands of construction workers nationwide into the clutches of union bosses.

At the turn of the millennium, the Committee is, for the first time ever, mounting a full-scale drive to repeal the forced-dues provisions in federal labor law. Committee members’ lobbying efforts are now even more important than ever before.

Grassroots Activism Is the Ultimate Weapon

When the battle cry is sounded, Committee members are a formidable army. And the cardinal weapon in the Committee’s arsenal is the outspoken voice of its members.

While the union bosses must depend on the “persuasion” of political bag money, as well as baseball bats and firebombs, Right to Work members’ loud and clear protests remind politicians to protect the American people from Big Labor coercion.

Freedom, fairness, and nearly 80% of the American people support the principle of Right to Work. The loyalty and constant vigilance of our members are a powerful force against the pernicious ideology of forced unionism.