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1. 

   Dycel said, 6 months ago

   By all means lets roll back labor laws to the turn of the century, 14 hr days for a nickle and robber barons rule the land.
2. 

   prfesser said, 6 months ago

   Yay, Michigan – and the 23 other right-to-work states!
3. 

   Peabody-Martini said, 6 months ago

   As a society we need to get rid of the retrograde atrocity that is Taft-Hartley and the Orwellian nonsense of “right to work”. If anyone is happy about what happened in Michigan and the anti-democratic process involved, they have a serious mental health problem.
4. 

   mimismom said, 6 months ago

   Yeah, prfesser, and in those states the workers make an average of $1500 less a year and 2.5% fewer workers have health care. Exactly what is it you’re cheering about?
5. 

   Rickapolis said, 6 months ago

   The real tragedy is that the Koch brothers will LIKE this representation.
6. 

   Donald Williams said, 6 months ago

   I saw on the Internet that eight of the ten states with the highest poverty rates are “right-to-work” states. This supposedly comes from the U.S. Census Bureau. Has anybody else seen this, and is it factual?
   
7. 

   Bruce4671 said, 6 months ago

   the thing about your rights is that they stop where mine begin.
8. 

   mickey1339 said, 6 months ago

   @mimismom

   " Exactly what is it you’re cheering about?"

   Right to work states have lower unemployment and are generally areas where small business is growing. Unions in private employment are at 7% of the labor force and declining. Municipal unions are bankrupting states and cities at an alarming rate because they don’t have the money to fund their benefits and pensions. The Federal and state laws relating to employment, work safety, workmans comp etc are practically the highest standards in the free world. I’m sure the links below are too lengthy but they give a good representation of the subject.

   http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm
   http://www.batr.org/negotium/011812.html
   http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/12/11/krauthammer_right-to-work_an_adjustment_to_reality_.html
9. 

   dtroutma said, 6 months ago

   “Right to work” just equals lower wages and benefits, while increasing profits for CEOs and “investor class”. That these states have lower standards of living does make “anti-union” companies relocating, and still seeming to be “the good guys”, is not discussed. Yes, it is like importing a little bit of China to the poor states, and the jobs ARE “good” compared to what’s available, but lowering the standard in higher standard states, may not be “great”?
10. 

    mickey1339 said, 6 months ago

    @Peabody-Martini

    “As a society we need to get rid of the retrograde atrocity that is Taft-Hartley and the Orwellian nonsense of “right to work”. If anyone is happy about what happened in Michigan and the anti-democratic process involved, they have a serious mental health problem.”

    Interesting use of language, Illogical if not devoid of fact. I presume you are a true progressive when you decry Taft_Hartley. By that logic, why don’t we just scrap the Constitution and bring it up to date? Orwellian I’m assuming is sarcasm implying control by government and unions? Anyway, I’m sorry you disagree with the will of the people in Michigan, since it was a legislative majority that voted it in. It’s amazing to me they could get that through with the strength of the unions in Detroit.

    For reference, private sector unions represent 7% (and declining) of the private workforce. Municipal unions are a higher percentage (9%) but they are rapidly bankrupting several states and local governments due to inability to fund their benefits and pensions.
11. 

    ConserveGov said, 6 months ago

    Do “labor rights” include the right to join a union or not to join? I know libs like to think people are too dub to choose for themselves, but if a union is in the best interest for a worker, he will still join. Now he just has a choice.
12. 

    Fairportfan2 said, 6 months ago

    @Donald Williams

    Well, considering that they’re concentrated in the South … if it weren’t i’d be surprised.
13. 

    braindead08 said, 6 months ago

    @mickey1339

    “Municipal unions are a higher percentage (9%) but they are rapidly bankrupting several states and local governments due to inability to fund their benefits and pensions.”
    -
    I agree about municipal — and state — unions, but when private unions are attacked, wages as a whole decrease. And it’s not as if businesses like Koch Industries are suffering. Also, publically owned companies are making record profits.
14. 

    charliekane said, 6 months ago

    @ConserveGov

    Employees have had that choice since the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 outlawed the union shop and the closed shop. Hence, since 1947, federal law has prohibited “forcing” or “requiring” anyone to join a union as a condition of work.

    Right to Work laws outlaw the agency shop.

    In an “agency shop”, no one is required to join a union, but if a union collectively bargains for the employees, a “fair share” fee is deducted from non-union employees’ wages to allow the union to recoup expenses of representation. Any portion of union members union dues that cover strike funds, union political activity, etc., are not charged to the non-union employee. The non-union employee would pay reduced dues.

    Unions are in decline, and RTW laws are a tactic to hasten that decline. RTW merely pretends to offer a choice that is already there.
15. 

    capndunzzl said, 6 months ago

    …greed is evil and evil is like a cancer…..the Koch’s could be that cancer.
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