The great thing about America is that if you don’t like what your state is doing on one or more issues, you can move to a different one that’s more to your liking. One of the policies that make people move is Right to Work (RTW) laws. Let’s take a look at the latest trends on this hot topic and see how it impacts your Paycheck.
Here are Five Fast Facts on Right to Work in America:
- 🤔 What Is It? - A ”right to work” law makes it so workers aren’t required to join whatever labor union exists in their company (if there is one). It also means that paying union dues is optional and it stops contracts that require only union workers. Some say it’s that crazy thing called freedom of choice for workers and businesses!
- ➡️ Moving Toward Right To Work - Supporters of Right to Work point to “foot voting”, or the migration of workers from state to state. Since 2012, five states have switched to Right to Work states; of the other 45, the 10 with the worst worker losses have all been non-RTW states. The top four worker gains are all RTW states. States with RTW laws have gained 79% more workers than non-RTW states. That’s a lot of feet moving AWAY from states that require union membership and everything that comes with it.
- ⬅️ Moving Away From Right To Work - Not every state is following this trend toward RTW! In fact, Michigan just signed a law repealing Right to Work in their state, the first state to do so in the last 60 years. Union lovers, rejoice (and move to Michigan!)
- 💰 Wage Effects - Workers in non-RTW states tend to have higher hourly pay than their RTW state counterparts ($28.26 to $25.78), and much higher pay than non-union workers ($25.14 in non-RTW states, $20.92 in RTW states). But, when you factor in the cost-of-living in those states, actual after-tax income is still $4,300 higher overall in RTW states! I guess irony can be pretty ironic sometimes…
- 👷 Overall Jobs - Through July of 2022, RTW states added 1.3 million jobs overall, whereas non-RTW states lost 1.1 million jobs overall. In terms of recovering from pandemic job losses, 16 of the 27 RTW states have fully recovered; only two non-RTW states have gotten there.
🔥Bottom line: So what are we to make of all this back and forth? Well, it really comes down to what you want. If you like your union and what it does for you (and who doesn’t love a bigger Paycheck??), then get a union job in a RTW state. If you don’t dig the whole union thing, then you’ve got plenty of options for that, too. As always, we encourage you to get informed and make the best decision for you…and your Paycheck!
What’s been your experience with unions?
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