One by one Kentucky's various counties
are falling into a mindless void by declaring that they are now
members of the spuriously named “right to work” club. I and many
others have described those laws as being “right to work for as
little as possible laws” but their advocates assure us that it is
those efforts to secure a living wage that are making Kentucky a
desert for attracting businesses to locate here.
Steve Kelly, our new County Judge
Executive cites statistics that he says seem to indicate that
businesses are choosing to locate in areas where right to work laws
are in existence and that may be true since corporations are all
about maximizing profits and ensuring appreciating stock values for
their stockholders. However, there is also substantial evidence that
there are businesses for which having a well educated and competent
work force is of more value. It seems that the businesses that we
have attracted in recent memory have offered minimum or low wage jobs
that do little to improve the overall economic health of the county.
While desperation may be sometimes a factor in securing jobs it is
not a plan for economic health for a progressive community. While
there are quite a few well off people and businesses that maintain
the way to a wealthy community is through profitable business there
is also substantial evidence that supports the idea that placing a
decent and justifiable wage in the hands of workers does far more to
keep the economic engine humming. It is seldom the case that wages
are the primary factor in causing a business to fail or leave an
otherwise accommodating location.
Without going into the details of the
dubious benefit of tax forgiveness or other incentives to businesses
to locate here it is doubtful that any of these efforts that minimize
advantages to workers are of any lasting benefit to a community.
Depressing wages only leads to depressing standards of living that
are more reliant on government benefits to just get by and, like it
or not, that is a taxpayer supported subsidy to those businesses.
Paying a living wage to workers not only makes good economic sense it
is also good tax policy because those workers are not dependent on
taxpayer subsidies.
But most businesses will not just pony
up good wages without a little something to motivate them. There are
some that will but they are few and far between and we don't have a
Google here in Pulaski County. This is where unions come in. By
organizing the labor force unions are a voice for the working man or
woman whose power to influence his or her wages is determined by
whether or not the door hits them in the butt on the way out. A
single worker alone has no power but groups of workers do have the
power to convince business that it is in its best interests to have a
happy, content and productive labor force. Success breeds success.
Business looking to locate here are reluctant when they see a
depressed economy and encouraged when they see economic health and
governments that are flourishing.
What is a “right to work” law
anyway? Simply put the aim of “right to work” laws is to remove
the threat of unions being able to negotiate contracts and to enforce
them by way of work stoppage. It does this by prohibiting “security
agreements” and by eliminating the requirement of non-union
employees to pay union dues. However, these laws do not remove the
requirement that the union represent those non-members in matters of
contractual infringement. They DO NOT ensure that any one can get a
job and they DO NOT prohibit unions. They only remove any advantage
that belonging to a union would bring and thereby breaking the back
of union preference.
We are not very familiar with unions
here in Pulaski County but I believe it can be substantiated that the
best jobs the county has had were union jobs. It may be a good idea
to take into account the large number of retirees that have settled
here after being employed in the auto business and many others in
states to the north of us. For many years the best and brightest of
Kentucky's youth have had to venture out of state to find good jobs
that paid a living wage and enabled them to participate in the
American Dream and those were union jobs. I have talked to quite a
few who have expressed their reluctance to advertise their union
sympathies because of the negativity surrounding the topic in this
area.
It can't be refuted that in the past
unions have been associated with some disreputable people but the
same can certainly be said of big business. Unions these days are
regulated and watched over much closer than in the 1950s and 1960s.
Jimmy Hoffa is not going to rise or he would have done so by now.
The choice is yours. Don't make a
judgement based on political sound bites and one sided assertions by
the Chamber of Commerce. You may not want to join a union but that
does not mean that efforts by workers to organize to receive better
wages and benefits should be short-circuited in order to appease the
bottom lines of businesses.
My Take is that you should educate
yourself before accepting my word for this or any other person's word
for this. I am including this link to an article in Forbes Magazine
which is no slouch when it comes to business.
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