Analysis of the Concept of Right-to Work in the USA - Assignment Example

 Review of Literature on “Right to Work State” Introduction The “right-to-work state” is an employment idea arising from the majority of US states where by citizenry of their respective states are entitled to human right to work or take part in any productive employment without any hindrance such as requirements and obligations prior to employment. One of the legislations governing the right-to work states clarifies that the right to remain employed or to work is lawfully incorporated into the UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights ) which is recognized by the law of global human rights through its insertion in the ICESCR (International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), where the right to work underscores the benefits in economic, cultural and social advancements. Presently, there are 23 states in this union namely Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, Wyoming, North Carolina, Texas, Idaho, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Nevada, Louisiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia, South Dakota and Utah, with Indiana being the last State to join the membership of right-to work states. Right to work legislation is allowed under provisions of the federal Act that was enshrined in the US laws in 1947. This legislation permits State to forbid union shops which obligates a job seeker or employee to a member of a particular union as a prerequisite of employment. This same law give the employee to a freedom of either to work under union or choose o terminate his or her membership of the union. This contravenes the pro-union states legislations which oblige workers to be member of any labour union and to maintain its membership as long as their employment duration dictates. History of rights to work States The phrase ‘right to work’ was created by the leader Louis Blanc, who was a French socialist. Blanc coined this phrase in correspondence to social chaos that was rocking majority of French states in the early 19th century, such as soaring unemployment rate during the 1846 financial predicament, which resulted into a heavy French Revolution of 1848. The right to own a property was a significant agenda of demand in the early pursuits for political liberty and parity and against the feudal management of property. Most of the French population viewed Property as a foundation for entitlements that guarantee the realization of right to sufficient standard of living. During that time, civil and political rights such as the right to vote was only a preserve for the property owners and given that not everybody in the great French republic was a property owner, the right to work was incorporated into their legislation document to permit everybody to access or acquire sufficient and improved standard of living. Currently, disparity based on the concept of property ownership is viewed as a grave threat to parity enjoyment of human rights as enshrined in most of the non-discrimination clauses of international human rights legislations and constant insertion of property as a foundation on which disparity is prohibited. According to Mihlar (1997) the concept of right to work is splendid idea based on the employees’ social life and economic point of view. Employees within the Right-To-Work States enjoy comparatively certain protections and privileges than their non-member states counterparts. For instance, employees in Right-To Work States are guarded or protected by the right to work legislations whereby they are not under any obligation to pay dues or fees to a union or rather are not required to be a member of a union. Under states to work and federal labor laws, these employees in addition are under liberty to resign from being a member of a union at his or her convenient time. Moreover, once an employee has resigned from being a member, he or she is not again under any obligation to take part in union activities such as election of meetings, even if the person is still fully covered by the joint bargaining agreement (union) that was priorly negotiated between the worker and the employer. Furthermore, any benefit that are given by the employer to the workers or his employees owing to the pursuant of collective bargaining agreement such as wage increment, vacations, pension and improved working conditions may not be affected by resignation from this union. This implies that the legislation governing right-to work state has provided sufficient freedom in its membership that neither encourages nor discourages the employee from resigning or staying put. According Mihlar (1997) the economic effect of implementing Right To-Work Laws to its members has greatly benefited the members of Right-To Work States. This is because, through this arrangement, more business ventures are setup in these regions which translates into a boost in income of the citizenry of these states. With regard to that, given that there is insufficient union destiny in Right to- work states, unions condemning that right to work states are luring business firms and companies to desert the pro-union states is a blatant lie. In addition, a right to-work state is accompanied with more jobs, compared to non-right to work states. For instance, between the years 2000 to 2010, the members of Right-To Work states recorded a rise in 2.3% in employment rate in their respective regions, while the non-right to work states recorded a decline of 4.0% in their employment opportunities. This can be justified by a case study of Indiana state which recorded a decrease in employment rate by 6.9 % , loosing approximately 207,000 jobs over the past decade, while comparatively, nearly 1.2 million job vacancies were created in right-to work states. To the employees, this concept provides attractive and better wages. This is because in the context of economics, when more jobs are created, workers tend to be scarce and employers will do everything to attract and keep the workers they want including offering them better packages and conducive working environment. For instance, according to past research studies, between 2000 to 2010, personal income by 57.5% for a worker in right- to work state, while that of non-right to work state grew by only 40.5%. Narrowing down to the case of Indiana, being a member of non-right to work state by then, it realize a measly increase of personal income of 35.4% percent within the similar period. Similarly, looking at disposable personal income, this difference still remains, with right-to work states registering a soaring of 6.3% compared to 41.8% recorded by their non-right to work state counterparts over the same period of one decade (2000-2010). With regard to cost of living, which purportedly is lower in right-to work states, a research carried out by Missouri Economic Research and Information Center discovered that in 2009, after shaping the cost of living, the right to-work states’ yearly income-per capita was $35,534 compared to $33, 389 of non-right to work states. In essence, when wages are improved in right-to work states, the workers and the general public also grows in different parameters of economy such as cost of living and income per capita and the general standard of living. Based on the security of the worker, there has been a growing notion that the laws governing the right to work states undermine the safety of the workers. However, this is contradicted by the occupational injury statistics. The occupational injury and fatal statistics in right to –work states according to a research conducted in 2009 by US Bureau of Labor statistics, reveals that in right to work-states, 3.5 in every 100 workers involved in injury or death while at work and this was a relatively smaller figure, compared to 3.9 in every 100 employs of non-right to work states in the same year. This depicts that there is enhanced workers safety in right –to work states compared to their non-right to work counterparts. Ideally, enacting Right to Work laws enhances businesses and their expansion within the members of right-to work states and this is very imperative since the move is associated with significant benefits cutting across economic parameters of a state, the workers’ welfare and the entire society or community of the state. Expansion of the economy under the courtesy of right to work concept widens the state’s tax base and adequately provide for the much needed essential local services without necessarily heightening the tax burden on the present business society and citizenry of the state. Despite the fact that Right-to work concept is associated with many economic benefits, it is accompanied with certain shortcomings that if presumed can be detrimental to the overall growth of a state or a country. Most of the short comings associated with the right-to work laws lies on the idea of discouraging union membership or weakening the unions. Basically, a weakened union lacks the voice to advocate for the decry or plights of the workers, subjecting workers to hash working conditions a such a poor packages of salaries and wages, and unstable job security within the work place as most employees gains more powers over the employees terms and conditions. For instance, the workers unions of workplaces within the right to work often decry about certain Right –to work state laws and so there is a sharp prevailing division between union crusaders and non-members (right-to work crusaders). In most cases, non-members in these work places undergo harassments by union members which at times force the union officials to entice non-members to register and become their members. According to Dogan, (2010) Right to work states do not allow unions and employers to force employees to become a union member or pay union dues as a clause of employment. These states in addition, prevent do not allow its members to be subjected to harassment such as denial of employment or payment of certain fee to prior to job acquisition. However, given that most of its member is not members of the unions, right-to-work can possibly weaken the collective bargaining power of the employees and subsequently hinder worker wage growth and permits worker’ job termination without a just cause. Currently, worker’s unions are on the decrease base on their rate of formation, numbers and influence as a result of the increasing membership of the right-to work states as the latest registered member being the state of Indiana. According to Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS), the report released on January 2012 reveals that the number of Labour Unions membership in the United States has dropped significantly to 11.8% compared to 11.9% in 2010 and 20% in 1983 which is the first year similar data was taken. The same report reveals that in 2011 workers and employees between the ages of 55-64 consisted of 15.7% of the union compared to 4.4 percent for workers falling in the age bracket of 16-24 Weakened unions The idea of right-to work causes detrimental impacts to unions. The pro-union states often force employers to bargain employee rights and wage growth through the labor unions. Moreover, collective bargaining or negotiation set hopes and expectations of employment terms such as secured and improved work-related situations and conditions like heightened safety measures for workers. It is a fact worth not the labour unions have contributed positively in the past especially towards the welfare of the worker such as terminating child labour, forming the forty hour work week, executing health and safety working conditions and providing workers with the legitimate grievance procedure against harassing and abusive employers. However, since employers and employees in the right-to work states are not required to participate in unions or hire a union member, the union’s potential and capability to adjust and boost workers’ worker’s terms and conditions beyond legal limit is weakened, especially when membership of the union is outnumbered by non-member (right-to work members). Consequently, a right-to work states have been known to record high number of fatalities related cases at the work place that pro-union states. Low wages Poulson (2005) explains that Weakening of the workers’ union as fostered by the terms and condition of the right-to work states incapacitates the employees and the workers through the union’s power to negotiate for attractive payment. Many research statistic shows that attractive wages and adequate workers’ benefits are witnessed in pro-union states than non-union members states (right-to work states). Basically, both employers and employees can benefit from reasonable wage increase. For example, attractive wages allows employees to financially project ahead for life experiences such as setting up a family and buying a house. On the other hand, employers can benefit from this arrangement by aging loyalty of the employee and increasing the employees’ commitment which is very healthy for the general performance of the company. However, since right-to work permits the employers to employ or hire a worker who must not necessarily be a union member, employers may tend to employ non-union members who can lead to comparatively lower increase in wages than in pro-union member states. At-will employment According to Right-to-work state laws, the employer and employee can end their employment relationship at any time for any reason without any justification. This makes the job security of the worker to be always at stake since the employers can decide to terminate their commitment with the employees on a minor ground or infractions. This implies that employees in right-to- work states do enjoy job stability or a feeling of job security as their pro-union counterparts do. In the case of pro-union states, employees are protected by federal anti-discrimination laws, such as Civil Rights Act. These legislations do not permit the dismissal of the employee of his duty or responsibilities anyhow. In pro-union member states, the worker’s unions collective agreement design the terms and circumstances under which the employee can be sacked or dismissed by the employer. These unions often dictates a procedures that requires the employer to always take certain measures other than dismissal such as correcting the employee’s behavior before resorting termination (Gall, 1988). In summary, Right to work concept allows its members states to have a human right to work or participate in any form of productive employment without being subjected to any type of hindrance such as a union membership as a obligation for employment. Presently, the pro-union states are gradually deserting the union membership and joining right-to work membership states owing to many benefits attributed to right-to work concept. Some of the imperative benefits associated with right-to work state are; increase in economic stability of the state as it widens investments, increases business openings and enhance job opportunities within the states. Given that it boost the amount of jobs and employment opportunity to its members, it has contributed positively to the income per capita of a state boosting its general standard of living to the community. However, this concept has also attracted certain shortcomings and challenges given that it shuns or discourages the stability of the unions. Unions are generally viewed as the platforms where employees and workers can air their grievances and deal with abusive employers and therefore, any legislation that thwarts its success and strengths tends to expose the workers and employees to harassment and abusive working conditions such as poor salary and wages, job termination on flimsy basis, uncomfortable working conditions. Conclusion In conclusion, the concept of right-to work currently winning majority of the US states is a noble idea as it helps in reducing unemployment rate that has so far become and remain a global challenge. However, the legislation governing the concept is not contributing effectively towards the welfare of the worker or the employee. Inasmuch as it opens the door for employment without any attached requirement or obligations like in the case of pro-union states, it provides the employers with the opportunity to exploit the employees or workers since the legislations does not provide for the workers protection against abusive employers. Therefore, in based on my analysis, for the success of Right-to work state concept, certain ideas and directions should be borrowed from the union concept and blended with the right to work legislations for a comprehensive protection of the worker and a full economic, social and political benefit of a right-to-work member state. References Dogan, Y. (2010). Trends in occupational fatalities and industry growth for construction industry in the United States. College Station, Tex.: Texas A&M University. Economic comparisons between "right-to-work" states and free bargaining states. (1991). Washington, D.C.: AFL-CIO. Gall, G. J. (1988). The politics of right to work: the labor federations as special interests, 1943- 1979. New York: Greenwood Press. Mihlar, F. (1997). Unions and right-to-work laws: the global evidence of their impact on employment. Vancouver: Fraser Institute. Poulson, B. W. (2005). The standard of living in right-to-work states. Springfield, Va.: National Institute for Labor Relations Research Read More