Poverty, Productivity, and Public Health: The Effects of "Right to Work" Laws on Key Standards of Living

Autor/in	Minor, Darrell
Titel	Poverty, Productivity, and Public Health: The Effects of "Right to Work" Laws on Key Standards of Living
Quelle	In: Thought & Action, 28 (2012), S.17-29 (13 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0748-8475
Schlagwörter	Public Health; Living Standards; Unions; Collective Bargaining; Labor Legislation; Employees; Economic Research; Social Indicators; Productivity; Poverty; Economic Impact; Personnel Policy; Policy Analysis; Policy Formation; Public Policy; Employer Employee Relationship; State Policy; Data Analysis; Statistical Data; Census Figures; Labor Relations; Indiana; United States + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Gesundheitswesen; Lebensstandard; Tarifverhandlung; Labor law; Arbeitsrecht; Employee; Arbeitnehmer; Beschäftigter; Wirtschaftsforschung; Social indicator; Sozialer Indikator; Produktivität; Armut; Ökonomische Determinanten; Personalpolitik; Politikfeldanalyse; Politische Betätigung; Öffentliche Ordnung; Auswertung; Volkszählung; Arbeitsbeziehung; USA
Abstract	On February 1, 2012, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels signed a "right to work" (RTW) provision in the state's labor laws, making Indiana the 23rd RTW state in the nation. In addition to becoming the 23rd RTW state in the nation, Indiana is the first in more than a decade to pass a law undermining the ability of unions to organize and represent their members. In RTW states, unions are prohibited from including "union security clauses" in their contracts, which are those clauses that require all employees in the bargaining unit to either join the union or pay a portion of its dues as a condition of employment. Thus, RTW laws are generally believed to weaken unions. Worker-friendly states (those states without RTW laws), on the other hand, allow provisions for the union to be the exclusive bargaining agent for those workers who are eligible for membership, and also require all eligible employees to pay at least a portion of the union dues. Supporters of RTW have cited a number of reasons for enacting such laws, but mostly they rely on non-existent research and false conclusions. There are several non-economic reasons for people to support RTW laws. But the question of whether RTW laws benefit a state economically has remained largely unanswered. In this paper, using the most recent data available from the U.S. Census, the BLS, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, and other public sources, the author has analyzed a spectrum of seven measures for standard of living, and determined whether there are differences in these measures between the 22 RTW states (not including Indiana, which joined them after this data was collected) and the 28 worker-friendly states (including Indiana). (Contains 4 tables and 26 endnotes.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	National Education Association. 1201 16th Street NW Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 202-833-4000; Fax: 202-822-7974; Web site: http://www.nea.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10