Throughout his campaign and in these early days of his presidency, Donald Trump has presented himself as a champion of the working man. Given that he owns an almost entirely gold-plated private jet, I am skeptical of this claim. My skepticism is only further enforced by the actions he and his party have recently taken.
On Feb. 1, House Republicans Steve King and Joe Wilson introduced a national “right to work” bill. With Republican majorities in both houses and Trump’s expressed fondness for “right to work,” the bill is almost guaranteed to become federal law if Democrats don’t pull off one hell of a filibuster.
I was raised on Joe Hill songs. I met Billy Bragg when I was 11 and gave him a big ole' hug. So you can probably guess my stance on unions. Without the efforts of trade unions and the rest of the labor movement, workers wouldn’t have the eight-hour work day, paid overtime, compensation benefits for injuries, employer-based health coverage, the end of child labor, paid family and medical leave, and on and on. But today, because of laws like “right to work,” unions are toothless, unable to muster any resistance. Corporations are free to rob their employees.
“Right to work” laws are state legislation that forbid union security agreements — contracts between labor unions and employers that require employees to join a union or pay union dues. By prohibiting unions from making these contracts, they can no longer collectively bargain for workers, shifting the balance of power in favor of employers, forcing workers to settle for lower wages and poorer working conditions. This isn’t just hypothetical: the median household income in “right to work” states is 13.9 percent less than in union states.
This is part of the intention, of course. “Right to work” laws were never meant to help working people. They have always been used to exploit, divide and discriminate against workers, ever since their inception. The idea of “right to work” originates with the racist lobbyist Vance Muse, whose organization argued that unless union security agreements are made illegal, “white women and white men will be forced into organizations with black African apes…whom they will have to call 'brother' or lose their jobs.” Muse also worked as an activist opposing women’s suffrage, child labor rights, the eight-hour workday and the appointment of a Jewish judge to the Supreme Court.
Because of “right to work,” it is for all intents and purposes impossible to unionize in twenty-eight states, including North Carolina, which currently ranks thirty-eighth in the nation in state median wages. “Right to work” removes any chance for unity and severely limits the scope of legal action that unions can take to strike or protest.
Traditional unionism cannot survive, much less thrive, under these conditions, but that doesn’t mean the labor movement can’t still organize. We can, instead, harness the power of worker centers. A worker center is an organization of workers that lacks the ability to collectively bargain, but is still able to perform a number of actions that unions are denied, including wildcat strikes, picketing other employers, organizing independent contractors and more. Unlike unions, worker centers focus on geographic areas rather than specific businesses. They’re as easy to form as any non-profit organization, and they have become a breath of fresh air for the labor movement.
“Right to work” laws won’t stop the labor movement. Groups like Fight for $15 and Interfaith Worker Justice are mobilizing workers to obtain higher wages, better working conditions and an even footing with their bosses. We need to support their struggle at the same time that we work to repeal the laws that hold back collective bargaining and line the pockets of fat cats. Only then will there again be power in a union.
