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Trivia Tidbit Of The Day: Part 475 -- Forced Unionization VS. Right To Work.

Forced Unionization Wrecks Economies-

American labor unions, notwithstanding their electoral victories in 2006, continue to decay severely, particularly in the private sector. In the 1950s, more than a third of all American workers were unionized. Today, it's closer to an eighth of all workers, with many of those working in various levels of government. Examine the private sector alone, and union members account for roughly one in thirteen workers. Unions are desperate to stem their seemingly inevitable extinction, and they are actively cashing in on their grassroots efforts from the 2006 election to get as much pro-union policy out of Congress and state legislatures as they can get.

Nowhere is the union struggle for survival more evident than the American Midwest. Erroneously believing they could extract lavish health and pension benefits out of employers ad infinitum, powerful and corrupt unions in places like Michigan essentially destroyed their own economic base. They engaged their companies in a high-stakes game of chicken, and lost. Employers realized that they could move to Tennessee or Texas (Right-To-Work states), still find qualified and dependable labor, still pay a good wage with good benefits, and ultimately produce a better product at a lower cost.

Not surprising at all, then, are these figures (.pdf):

...between 1986 and 2006, 11 right-to-work states have added 104,000 auto manufacturing jobs, a 63 percent increase. The non-right-to-work states lost 130,000 auto jobs, or 15 percent of their total over the same period.

The reason why Iowa is singled out in the chart above is that Democrats now control the entire government there (Governor, both chambers of the state legislature), and unions are demanding policy payment for their armies of get-out-the-vote "volunteers" that made the difference in '06. They want an end to Right-To-Work. They want "Neutrality Agreements." They want "Card Checks."

Iowa, don't do it, unless you want to end up like the rest of the "rust belt."

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Leaner Is Better Than Larger, When It Comes To Government.

Posted by Will Franklin · 15 January 2008 02:53 PM

Comments

Posted by: Sam at January 15, 2008 09:03 PM