Congressional Cosponsorship of National Right to Work Act Tops 100

Support for Right to Work is Growing: Congressional Cosponsorship of H.R.1275 and S.406 Tops 100

Thanks largely to relentless grass-roots activism by members of the National Right to Work Committee, the number of congressional cosponsors of the forced-dues repeal legislation introduced in the U.S. House and Senate early this year continues to rise. H.R.1275 and S.406, the National Right to Work Act measures respectively introduced in the 2021-22 Congress by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), had a combined total of well over 100 cosponsors as this Newsletter went to press in early September.

These identical bills would not add a single word to federal labor law. 

Instead, they would simply repeal the current provisions in the federal code that authorize and promote the termination of employees for refusal to pay dues or fees to an unwanted union.

Households in Right to Work States Have More to Spend

“When H.R.1275 or S.406 becomes law, private-sector employees in all 50 states will have the freedom to choose as individuals whether or not to join or bankroll a union,” explained Right to Work President Mark Mix.

“No employees covered by federal labor statutes will face job loss as a consequence of their decision to refuse to pay dues or fees to a union they would never join voluntarily.”

Compulsory unionism is, above all, a moral issue.

At the same time, of all the economic reforms Congress may consider during its 2021-22 session, federal forced-dues repeal, otherwise known as the National Right to Work Act, would surely have the strongest positive impact for incomes and jobs. 

To illustrate the point, Mr. Mix called attention to a 2020 National Institute for Labor Relations Research analysis showing that the mean cost of living-adjusted, after-tax household income in Right to Work states in 2019 was $64,472 — roughly $4,300 higher than the forced-dues state average.

The Institute’s sources for this analysis were the U.S. Census Bureau (BOC), the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (a state government agency), and the nonpartisan, Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation.

“Working men and women find again and again that they cannot provide as well for their families in states that continue to allow forced union dues as they can in states that have adopted laws protecting the Right to Work,” commented Mr. Mix.

“That’s why, when they have a choice, working-aged people prefer not to live in forced-unionism states.”

Considered together, age-grouped state population data for 2020 recently released by the BOC and comparable data for 2010 tell an important story.

They show that, over the past decade, the total population of people in their peak-earning years (aged 35-54) for the 23 states that have yet to adopt and implement a Right to Work law, barring the termination of employees for refusal to bankroll an unwanted union, fell from 43.98 million to 40.73 million.

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This article was originally published in our monthly newsletter. Go here to access previous newsletter posts.

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