Message to Congress: Americans Yearn to Be Free

Mark Mix: “I’m confident that, if there is a choice between a strongly pro-Right to Work candidate and a forced-unionism candidate, the pro-Right to Work candidate is in a better position to gain support.” Credit: Gage Skidmore/ Wikimedia Commons

Politicians Pressed to Keep Pro-Right to Work Campaign Promises

In November 2018, roughly 200 federal candidates were elected to the U.S Congress after having cosponsored legislation to repeal forced union dues and fees, or after, in response to a National Right to Work Committee candidate survey, having pledged to do so.

Today, the vast majority of U.S. House of Representatives members who pledged to support forced-dues repeal in 2018 are already cosponsors of H.R.2571, the National Right to Work Act.

But a relative handful of the representatives who answered their 2018 Committee surveys 100% in favor of the Right to Work, such as U.S. Representatives Timothy Burchett (R-Tenn.), Carol Miller (R-W.Va.), and Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho), have yet to follow through by cosponsoring forced-dues repeal.

This spring and summer, the Committee will be mobilizing members and supporters in a number of targeted congressional districts and states to convince fence-sitting politicians to cosponsor H.R.2571 or its Senate companion measure, S.525.

Later this year, Committee mobilization will be geared primarily toward persuading Big Labor politicians to change course and stop supporting compulsory unionism.

Reps Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), Carol Miller (R-W.Va., center), and Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho) all pledged to cosponsor National Right to Work legislation during their successful 2018 campaigns. But so far they haven’t done so. Many of the constituents who helped elect them want to know why. They can ask by calling them at 202-225-3121.

Constituents of Reps. Burchett, Miller and Fulcher Strongly Favor Right to Work

Throughout the course of the Survey 2020, candidates will be given several chances to return their surveys and answer in support of American employees’ Right to Work.

National Right to Work President Mark Mix commented:

“This year, as in previous election years, millions of grassroots Right to Work supporters are being enlisted to lobby federal politicians seeking election or reelection to oppose compulsory unionism across-the-board.

“Tim Burchett, Carol Miller, Russ Fulcher, and other U.S. representatives who are currently being lobbied through the survey program represent some of the most strongly pro-Right to Work jurisdictions in America.

“There’s no sensible reason why House members whose constituencies are overwhelmingly and passionately opposed to monopolistic unionism should hesitate to cosponsor H.R.2571.”

No One Should ‘Be Required To Join’ Any Private Group ‘Against His Will’

Of course, it isn’t just in a subset of congressional districts that public opinion strongly supports the Right to Work.

“Poll after poll shows that the American people as a whole recognize that compulsory unionism is wrong,” said Mr. Mix.

To illustrate the point, he cited a nationwide scientific survey of adults aged 18 and over conducted a few years ago by Gallup, Inc.

The poll found that 82% of adults agree that “no American should be required to join any private organization, like a labor union, against his will.”

“Unfortunately,” observed Mr. Mix, “federal labor policy has long been in conflict with the common-sense views of the vast majority of ordinary citizens.

“For eight-and-a-half decades, it has explicitly authorized the termination of employees for refusal to join or pay dues or fees to a union, even if they don’t want it, and never asked for it.”

But all this would change if H.R.2571/S.525 became law.

This legislation would simply repeal the current provisions in the federal code that authorize and promote the termination of employees for refusal to pay money to an unwanted union.

Almost Certain to Foster Faster Growth in Jobs And Personal Income

In addition to enjoying the support of the vast majority of Americans, federal Right to Work legislation is almost certain to foster faster job and income growth around the country, based on decades of experience at the state level.

One compelling recent addition to the mountain of evidence of Right to Work’s economic benefits is a March release from the U.S. Labor Department.

This report features new and revised data regarding the number of civilian household jobs (a broad measure that includes the self-employed and contractors as well as workers on employer payrolls) in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Ideal Is For All Candidates To Oppose Forced Unionism

It shows that the 22 states that already had Right to Work laws on the books prohibiting forced union dues and fees in 2009 enjoyed overall employment growth of 16.9% over the next decade.

That’s almost double the overall employment growth in the 23 states that have chosen, up to now, not to adopt Right to Work laws.

Among all 50 states, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Texas and Florida respectively rank #1 through #5 for percentage growth in the number of people employed over the past 10 years.

All five are Right to Work states. Nine of the 10 highest-ranking states over the same period have Right to Work laws.

In a 2006 study, top U.S. labor economist Leo Troy, who has since passed away, observed:

“[R]ight-to-work laws are strongly correlated with faster growth in jobs and personal income.”

Today, the data continue to bear him out.

While the detrimental economic impact of compulsory unionism is felt most deeply in Big Labor-dominated states, employees nationwide lose economic opportunities as a consequence of the actions of Tax & Spend, regulation-happy U.S. congressmen and senators who are elected and reelected with the help of union officers.

Mr. Mix concluded:

“Americans find the very idea of compulsory unionism distasteful. And it has been a disaster in practice.

“The ideal, therefore, would be for all federal candidates to vow to oppose it in the future, regardless of what their records have been up to now.”

All major-party candidates, as well as key significant third-party and independent candidates, in every House and Senate race are asked to participate in the Right to Work Survey 2020 program.

And pro-Right to Work citizens in every House district and every state where there’s a Senate race are contacted and requested to help turn up the pressure on their candidates to respond to their surveys.

This Fall, Committee Will Let Citizens Know Where Their Candidates Stand

“Of course,” said Mr. Mix, “the Committee reserves the vast majority of its resources and mobilizes far more freedom-loving activists for House and Senate races that are at least potentially close and in which at least one candidate has taken a strong stand in favor of Right to Work.

“At the very least, Right to Work members and supporters want one candidate in each race this November to be a credible opponent of Big Labor’s monopoly privileges.

“In cases where only one of the two principal general-election candidates stands up for the Right to Work, the Committee’s job will be to let freedom-loving people know about the contrasting positions of their candidates on the forced-unionism issue.

“I’m confident that, if there is a choice between a strongly pro-Right to Work candidate and a forced-unionism candidate, the pro-Right to Work candidate is in a better position to gain support.”


If you have questions about whether union officials are violating your rights, contact the Foundation for free help. To take action by supporting The National Right to Work Committee and fueling the fight against Forced Unionism, click here to donate now.


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