Which States Have Right To Work Laws – A total of 27 states, including every state in the South, have anti-union “right to work” laws. Previous attempts to annex Virginia had failed (Map by Ben Barber / facing south.)
After winning elections last November to take control of the Virginia state House and Senate, Virginia Democrats have adopted a progressive agenda that includes raising the minimum wage, gun control measures and election reform.
Which States Have Right To Work Laws
Labor advocates also pushed for the largely blue-collar state of Virginia to repeal so-called “right-to-work” laws from the 1940s that weakened unions by requiring them to provide representation to unpaid members. The business sector of the state strongly opposed the cancellation.
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The law makes it more difficult for workers to form unions and negotiate wages, rights Better benefits and working conditions. But a proposal to repeal or limit Virginia’s Right to Work Act is dead after a year because the Legislature didn’t take it up.
Currently, Virginia is among 27 right-to-work states, mostly in the South, Midwest and Southwest. Many of these laws were enacted in the 1940s and 1950s by divisive politicians who sought to prevent the formation of industrial unions that organized workers of all races.
Virginia passed the Right to Work Act in 1947 in response to an impending strike by employees of the Virginia Electric and Power Co., the successor to Dominion Energy. To prevent possible protests, Governor William Tuck was a staunch opponent of segregation and unions and threatened to draft workers into the state army. The dispute ended without a strike, but prompted Tuck to propose state right-to-work legislation.
Today, Virginia remains one of three states, along with North Carolina and South Carolina, that ban collective bargaining for public sector workers such as firefighters, police and teachers, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research. As a result, Virginia has a historically low union rate.
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Union membership increased just 4 percent of Virginia workers’ wages and salaries in 2019, compared to a national rate of 10.3 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The only state with lower union membership is the Carolinas.
Last December, Virginia House Representative Lee Carter, D-Manassas, introduced House Bill No. “The only way to understand the argument for preserving right-to-work is to look at it through the lens of preserving corporate power,” Carter said at the time.
Although the law managed to get 15 co-sponsors, it seemed that it was hard for the party. Another Mozart. For example, Democratic Party leader Ralph Northam said that repealing Right to Work is not an option and asked the party to focus on passing what he called “real labor reform.” Sen. Joe Morrissey of Richmond, who describes himself as a “strong supporter of labor,” also opposes the repeal, but said Democrats “need to proceed cautiously and cautiously in terms of fiscal stability and relations with the Virginia business community.”
After Carter’s bill passed the House Labor and Commerce House with unanimous Democratic support, it died in committee after leaders refused to schedule a hearing on it.
Details On State Right To Work Laws
In an effort to find a compromise, Virginia Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw, D-Springfield, introduced Senate 426, which would not completely repeal right-to-work but would introduce a “fair use fee” that would allow union contracts to require union members to organize. Workplaces pay partial union dues to cover costs associated with union collective bargaining services. But instead of voting to pass or kill the bill, the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee voted to have the committee reconsider in the future.
Meanwhile, in Tennessee, where only 5.5% of workers belong to a union, the state senate this week passed a resolution enshrining the state’s right-to-work law into the state constitution. Joint Resolution 648, which passed 24-5, was introduced by Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, who said Virginia’s repeal effort prompted him to defend right-to-work in Tennessee.
Labor leaders condemned the move. “The median household income is $6,500 less than in right-to-work states, and workplace deaths are high,” said Billy Dycus, president of the Tennessee AFL-CIO. “Tennessee is on the list of minimum wage jobs.”
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The Southern Education Institute is committed to being a voice for change in the South. Join us and help bring sustainable economic and social change to the region. I believe Angry Bear has touched on right to work several times; Here, here and now. This briefly touches on the RTW laws that are hurting the state’s economy.
Data Shows Anti-Union Right-to-Work Laws Hurt State Economies: New Hampshire Should Continue to Reject Right-to-Work Laws Once Michigan’s Repeal Takes Effect, Economic Policy, Jennifer Sherer and Elise Gould, 20/2025. :
Michigan’s 2023 repeal of so-called “right-to-work” (RTW) goes into effect this week, meanwhile, the New Hampshire state legislature is again debating the ARTW bill when it’s not clear the law will harm RTW. the economy of the state by accelerating income inequality and reducing the quality of work without job growth.
RTW laws – and the term “right to work” – are designed to deceive and confuse. The misnamed policy was designed to discourage workers from forming and maintaining unions, tougher and included bargaining for better wages, benefits and working conditions.
In Victory For Labor Unions, Michigan Governor Repeals ‘right To Work’ Law
Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1961 he pointed out that “right to work” was a “false slogan” because the RTW Act provided neither rights nor jobs and was actually designed to “rob us of our civil and labor rights [and] destroy unions and freedom collective bargaining through which unions improve wages and working conditions for all.” Decades later, research confirmed King’s assertion…
RTW laws are rooted in a history of racism and are designed to perpetuate unequal power. When private sector workers were given legal protections to join unions after the passage of the Federal National Labor Act in 1935, unionization rates increased rapidly. In response, the opposition fought the union, a clearly white-led campaign to limit the workforce and maintain Jim Crow labor relations. These campaigns pursued state legislation as a way to curtail federal union rights recently won through RTW policy and, in particular, to suppress multiracial union organizing. RTW laws have since expanded to 27 states and continue to have economic consequences that harm all workers
The numbers show that states in the South and West passed most RTW laws in the mid-20th century. However, since 2010, five more states with historically high levels of unionization—Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, West Virginia, and Wisconsin—have enacted RTW laws that limit the collective bargaining rights of workers in those states.
Right-wing groups targeted New Hampshire for passing RTW in 2011 when Mayor John Lynch vetoed the RTW bill through the Legislature. Since then, New Hampshire has remained a perennial target for anti-union bills, with RTW bills rejected at least seven times since 2010. The New Hampshire Proposition 2021 RTW recently passed the house.
States That Have Right To Work Laws
No New England state has an RTW law, and the repeated failures of RTW show continued unpopularity among New Hampshire voters and lawmakers across party lines. In addition, RTW faced three consecutive rejections in other states:
Michigan repealed RTW in 2023, Illinois voters approved a Workers’ Rights Amendment (which would have banned future RTW laws) in 2022, and Missouri voters rejected their legislature’s attempt to impose RTW restrictions in 2018.
But in 2024, some well-funded state anti-union groups continue to show interest in using state legislation as a tool to attack workers’ rights, and RTW is one of the first bills proposed by Republicans in the new Congress. Hampshire Legislative Assembly.
Below, we present the latest data assessing the economic impact of RTW laws, including the five states that last enacted the law, and show why New Hampshire has been right to reject RTW time and time again, and why lawmakers should do so again in 2024.
Study: Employees In Right To Work States Like Alabama Earn Just As Much
RTW laws are designed to limit workers’ collective power by prohibiting unions and employers from negotiating union safety agreements into collective bargaining agreements, making it more difficult for workers to form, join, and maintain unions. Thus, states with RTW laws generally have lower incorporation rates than states without RTW. Private sector workers in RTW states are more likely to be covered by union contracts than their counterparts in non-RTW states. This is even after controlling for other factors that may be related to unionization (such as industry, occupation, education, age, gender, race, ethnicity, and foreign-born status).
As a result, workers in states with RTW laws experience lower wages, limited access to health and pension benefits, and higher workplace fatalities. Workers in RTW states earn an average of 3.2% less than similar workers in non-RTW states, amounting to $1,670 per year for a full-time worker.
The numbers show that unionized workers are 64% more likely to have occupational health insurance and 63% more likely to receive more pensions than non-unionized workers. About 80% of unionized workers have employer-provided health and pension benefits, compared to half of non-union workers.
State policies such as RTW that limit workers’ rights to unionize and bargain collectively are fundamentally linked to important economic and labor market outcomes—including.
Indiana’s New Right To Work Law Could Prompt Copycats
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