Class & Power
Why are Unions Being Demonized?
By Vernon Beck
Last year, in 2012, Indiana became the twentythird state in the nation to become a Right-toWork state. The argument by the Republican Party and Chamber of Commerce was the state would draw more businesses if it were a Rightto-Work state. To understand the non-sense of this statement, we first need to understand what Right-to-Work means. This is a clever title to mislead people. A Right-to-Work state means that if you belong to a union, if you choose, you do not have to pay union dues if you don’t want to, but if you get in trouble, the union has to represent you as if you did pay union dues. Do you know of any other organization that you can choose to not pay dues, but if you need the services of that organization they have to provide you with the services or they could be prosecuted? That would be like your neighbor deciding to not pay his city or county taxes, but
at the same time, want full access to the local library, police force, and fire department. You would say that’s not fair. Why should I have to pay my fair share of taxes for all the services, but my neighbor doesn’t have to? How would you like to have your state mandate it? That is what the Right-to-Work law does. Speaking of the title, how does a law that is written about union member not having to pay union dues if they don’t want to have anything to do with the Right-to-Work? The name has nothing to do with the law. It is a great name to get state residents all worked up. Who doesn’t think they have a right to work? When the Republican Party conducts surveys, how convenient to ask the public, “Do you think people of this state have a right to work?” Who wouldn’t say yes? But it doesn’t have anything to do with the law. But the