National Right to Work Committee: Amazon “Dodged a Bullet” By Cancelling HQ2 in Forced Unionism New York
National Right to Work President Mark Mix encourages Amazon to consider the advantages of locating planned Long Island City HQ in a Right to Work state
Link to news release
Springfield, VA (March 5, 2019) – National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix has applauded Amazon.com, Inc. in an open letter for refusing to give in to unreasonable demands by union bosses and their political allies in New York and encourages the company to consider the advantages of the Right to Work states when looking for a replacement site.
Mix said Amazon had “dodged a bullet” by cancelling its plans to open one of its new headquarters in Long Island City, since there are no Right to Work protections in New York State to curb coercive tactics by union officials to impose compulsory unionism on workers.
After Amazon announced the New York City location, union bosses immediately injected their demands for corralling Amazon employees into union forced-dues ranks, where workers are fired for any nonpayment of union dues or fees. The demands were intended not only for the 25,000 employees Amazon had planned to hire for the Long Island City location, but also that Amazon “assist” union organizers in placing workers elsewhere under forced unionization arrangements, specifically by demanding that the company agree to a so-called “neutrality agreement.”
Instead of allowing future workers to freely choose, after hearing both arguments for and against unionization, whether they desired union representation through a secret ballot election, this “neutrality agreement” would have forced Amazon management to stand down and allow union to impose unionization on workers from the top down. Such agreements block workers from hearing information about potential the potential downsides of unionization, and often bypass the secret ballot vote entirely by unionizing workers through the notoriously coercive “card check” process.
Mix encouraged Amazon to consider relocating this headquarters to one of the 27 Right to Work states across the country instead of New York. In addition to protecting the rights of workers from compulsory unionism, Right to Work states tend to enjoy lower taxes, faster job growth and better cost of living than non-Right to Work states.
Amazon’s two other current expansions are both in Right to Work states: Nashville, Tennessee and Arlington, Virginia.
Included here is the full text of Mix’s letter:
Open Letter to Amazon
Dear Sirs,
I could not help but note the recent news reports that you have decided to cancel a major infrastructure investment in New York.
Allow me to congratulate you on having dodged a bullet.
As you know, polls showed that the people of New York were excited about Amazon bringing 25,000 high-paying jobs into their area.
Yet despite the clear benefits to the residents of Long Island City, Amazon immediately began to face a flood of hostility from local politicians, left-wing activists, and, not surprisingly to us here at National Right to Work, union officials.
Such hostility is sadly common in forced-unionism states like New York.
You see, Big Labor’s ability to force workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of working has led the union bosses and the politicians they finance to routinely ignore the desires of the hard-working men and women they claim to “represent.”
The fact is, job growth in the Right to Work states is nearly double that of the forced unionism states, for just that reason.
And after adjusting for cost of living, it’s clear that families in Right to Work states have on average $4,500 more to spend in after-tax real income.
That’s why site selection consultants consistently report more than half of their clients won’t even consider non-Right to Work states, when looking to relocate, invest, or expand.
So it makes sense for you to expand in Nashville, Tennessee and Arlington, Virginia, both in states which have Right to Work laws.
My question to you is why you ever had New York, and more specifically, New York City on your list, when there are dozens of cities open and welcoming for business across the twenty-seven Right to Work states?
Sincerely,
Mark Mix
President,
National Right to Work Committee
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The National Right to Work Committee, established in 1955, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, single-purpose citizens’ organization dedicated to the principle that all Americans must have the right to join a union if they choose to, but none should ever be forced to affiliate with a union in order to get or keep a job. Its web address is www.nrtwc.org.
https://nrtwc.org/wp-content/downloads/20190305-amazon-letter-release.pdf
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