Right to Work Sponsorship Rising Rapidly 

Reform Would Shield Employees From Funding Candidates They Oppose

Thanks primarily to relentless grassroots activism by members of the National Right to Work Committee, the number of cosponsors of the forced-dues repeal measures now pending in the U.S. House and Senate has risen by a combined total of 17 since these bills were introduced in February. 

H.R.1232 and S.533, the national Right to Work measures respectively brought up in the in 2025-26 Congress by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) and Sen. Rand Paul (RKy.), had 112 cosponsors between them as this Newsletter edition went to press in late April.

Individuals and Families In Right to Work States Have More to Spend

These 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 fork over money to an unwanted union. 

Compulsory unionism is, above all, a moral issue. At the same time, federal forced-dues repeal, otherwise known as the National Right to Work Act, is among the most beneficial economic reforms that Congress could pass in the 2025-26 session. 

A recent analysis by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research showed that the mean cost of living-adjusted per capita disposable income in the 26 Right to Work states in 2024 was $61,877 — roughly $2,500 higher than the forced-dues state average.

Union Bosses Often Punish Productive Workers

The Institute’s sources for this analysis were the U.S. Commerce Department and the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (a state government agency). 

“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 Committee President Mark Mix.

The fact is, union contracts often punish more productive workers with lower paychecks. 

Harvard’s Richard Freeman, arguably the leading academic apologist for Big Labor monopolists in America, has even publicly commended union bosses for their success in “removing performance judgments as a factor in determining individual workers’ pay.” 

Ordinary Americans’ understanding that many workers don’t benefit from unionization is one of many reasons why more than eight in 10 registered voters, including 79% of union members, agree with the Right to Work principle that union dues should be voluntary. 

And Right to Work helps protect workers from funding political causes they oppose. The United Auto Workers union hierarchy was loudly pro-Harris-Walz during the 2024 Presidential Election, with UAW boss Shawn Fain repeatedly donning a “TRUMP IS A SCAB” t-shirt and pledging that his union brigades would “go to war” against Donald Trump. 

But, as the Institute reported in an April fact sheet, the 2024 election results in key automaking counties show Mr. Trump actually had overwhelming support among rank-and-file UAW factory workers and their family members 

A post-election analysis for State Affairs by veteran Hoosier political writer Brian Howey pointed out that Indiana’s Allan County, home of a giant UAW-controlled truck plant, backed Mr. Trump over Ms. Harris, 58.6% to 39.7%.

Committee Members Will Continue Pressuring Lawmakers

Trump-Vance carried other automaking Indiana counties by even wider margins. The GOP ticket shellacked the Democrat ticket with 66.6% of the vote in Howard County, home to unionized Stellantis, GM, and Haynes International facilities. Trump-Vance won the GM counties of Lawrence and Grant with “74.7% and 70%, respectively.” 

Nevertheless, UAW dues payers in states without Right to Work protections were forced to fund a union hierarchy that aggressively campaigned against their preferred presidential ticket. 

Mr. Mix declared that the 2.8 million Committee members would continue raising the pressure on members of both the House and the Senate this year: 

“A flood of petitions, emails, and phone calls from our members has already had a massive impact on Capitol Hill. 

“Politicians have a simple choice to make: either support the National Right to Work Act, or explain to their constituents why they think workers ought to be forced to give up a portion of their paychecks to union bosses they oppose.”

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

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