At first glance, Tennessee’s Amendment 1 looks beneficial to workers. After all, isn’t more choice/more freedom better? Why is this such an issue? It’s because Tennessee’s so-called “right to work” law dovetails with federal law in a very subtle manner to hamstring unions. This can be illustrated with two simple questions:
Would you pay a little to get a raise? Would you prefer the exact same raise without paying anything?
Obviously: “yes” and “yes.” To earn a fair compensation, you’d willingly pay a small amount to support a union, who would bargain on behalf of you and your fellow workers. Furthermore, if you could have the exact same benefits without paying, you would be even better off. Unfortunately there’s a catch: everyone else would similarly choose not to pay union dues. Then, with zero funding, the union wouldn’t exist, and nobody would get a raise. That’s the very situation created by “right to work” laws in concert with an overarching federal labor law.
Tennessee’s “right to work” law in no way guarantees employment. It would be more appropriately named the “right to join a union” law, because it says just that: when it comes to unions, every worker may individually choose to affiliate- or not. There’s also a federal statute, The National Labor Relations Act, and part of it says that all workers get the benefits from union efforts, regardless of whether each worker has paid into the union. Together, these laws allow workers to reap the benefits of efforts on their behalf, without having contributed to the cause. The problem arises because all workers have the same incentive not to pay into the union. And if nobody pays then nobody advocates and nobody benefits.
Do “right to work” laws have a real effect? This is a complicated question, but examining wages in Tennessee is illuminating. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the average yearly wage in Tennessee is almost $5,000 less than the national average — and that’s after accounting for the fact that your dollar goes a little farther in Tennessee!
Is this as confusing to you as it is to me? Confusion and complication are tactics frequently used to deceive. One could conclude that “right to work” laws are intentionally designed to get workers to vote against their own interests.
If you believe workers should be fairly compensated, vote NO on Amendment 1!
“David Ticehurst is a Knoxville community member and physicist. He can be reached at [email protected].
Columns and letters of The Daily Beacon are the views of the individual and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Beacon or the Beacon’s editorial staff.”
