As you shop for back-to-school supplies for your kids or food for a Labor Day cookout, consider this: The clerks, shelf stockers, truck drivers, and factory workers who make that possible may be working under a threat: pay union dues or else be fired.
Why? Because California is one of the 24 forced-unionism states in the country. In your state, union officials enjoy a special privilege that allows them to legally threaten a worker to pay up or be terminated. By imposing a monopoly bargaining contract, all California employees in a unionized workplace, even those who reject union membership, can be subjected to mandatory dues.
If you think this sounds unjust, you’re hardly alone. Poll after poll consistently demonstrates that 8 in 10 Americans agree that it’s wrong to subject workers to this kind of union coercion. A new survey out from Rasmussen Media Group echoes this support, showing over 80% of Americans and even 79% of current union membersbelieve union dues should not be compulsory.
Fortunately, all public employees have enjoyed First Amendment protection against being compelled to make union payments as a job condition since the 2018 landmark US Supreme Court Janus v AFSCME decision, argued and won by National Right to Work Foundation attorneys. However, private sector workforces in forced-unionism states like California can still be forced to give money to union officials to keep their jobs.
While that’s just plain wrong, coercing workers into subsidizing union officials also holds back a state’s economy.
A National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR) report, drawing on data from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, shows that the number of individuals employed from 2013 to 2023 grew nearly twice as fast in Right to Work states as in forced-unionism states: 16% in Right to Work states versus only 8.3% in states that allow workers to be fired for refusing to pay union bosses.
The NILRR analysis also found that the cost of living-adjusted disposable per capita income advantage for Right to Work states is equivalent to more than $11,000 a year for a family of four.
The economic data speaks for itself.
Right to Work laws do not outlaw labor unions, and they do not prevent any workers from joining a labor union if they choose. Right to Work laws simply codify one commonsense principle: Every worker should have the choice to join a labor union, but no worker should be forced to pay fees to a union as a condition of employment.
Right to Work laws also encourage more flexible and responsive union officials in the workplace. When workers cannot simply be forced to pay dues under threat of termination, union brass must work harder to retain employee support. This incentivizes union officials to put workers’ interests first, rather than promoting their own power or pushing an agenda that is out of step with the rank-and-file.
On Labor Day, take a moment to reflect on the benefits that Right to Work brings to workers across the nation, and the difference it could make for California. Right to Work could mean more individual freedom and economic opportunity for you and your family. It’s working in Right to Work states across the country.
Help make California a Right to Work state. Demand your elected officials embrace the economic opportunity and worker freedom that Right to Work would bring.
Mark Mix is president of the National Right to Work Committee and National Right to Work Foundation
