Washington should be a right-to-work state

ELLENSBURG — It’s time to make Washington State a right-to-work state.

The big economic news coming out of Washington State this week is the relocation of Boeing to South Carolina. This move will relocate thousands of high paying aerospace jobs out of the state harming our economy and tax base and dimming any possibility of a quick employment rebound.

Why is Boeing threatening to leave? Unions. Plain and simple. Boeing made it very clear that it was the threat of another Machinist union strike that made them leave.

When unions defend the rights of workers, they deserve our support. When they start to drive out the bedrock industries of our state, it is the unions that need to be challenged.

Currently, the United States has 22 states with right-to-work laws protecting individual workers. In a right-to-work state you can get a job without being forced to join a union. The other 28 states are what we call “union shop” or “agency shop” states. In these states workers are required to join a union or pay union dues when they get hired.

In union shop states, labor has significantly more bargaining and political power.  In union shop states, unions have the same power that governments have in a time of war—they can draft you into their service even if you don’t want to go, and they get access to your paycheck even if you don’t support their cause.  Union shop states also eliminate competition.  When all the employees are represented by a single union, there is only one player in town to bargain with. That monopolistic power gives them an edge up.

What citizens need to understand is that these powerful unions, coupled with legal protections, are killing the economy of our state as well as the other union shop states in America.  The data are clear. Although unemployment is bad across the United States, right-to-work states fare much better than union shop states. Using data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, I found that the average unemployment rate in right-to-work states was 8.1percent compared to 9.2percent in the union shop states—a full percentage point lower.  In all, 8 of the 10 states with the lowest unemployment rates were right-to-work states. Only Vermont and Montana were union shop states that made the top 10. The highest unemployment rate for a right-to-work state was 13.2percent in Nevada whereas the highest rate in a union shop state was 15.2percent in Michigan.

Michigan is the poster child for arguments against union shop rules. The people of Michigan often complain that they have lost thousands of jobs. It’s not true. Michigan has not lost a single job. A “lost” job is one you can’t find. I know exactly where Michigan’s jobs are. They are in states with right-to-work laws.  Having placed their economic health into the hands of the United Auto Workers, the big three moved much of their production facilities to right-to-work states in the South.

Union apologist may cry “What about quality of life?” Nice try, but would you rather have 10 jobs that pay $75 an hour or 100 jobs that pay $20 an hour. Before you answer, you might want to talk to one of the thousands of Washingtonians who don’t have a job.

In 2008, the Wall Street Journal examined the economic environments of two big primary states — Ohio and Texas. Ohio is a union shop state and Texas is a right-to-work state. To no one’s surprise, Texas outpaced Ohio in every positive category. While Ohio had lost 10,000 jobs, Texas had created 1.6 million new jobs. The unemployment rate in Ohio sat at 6percent. In Texas, it was 4.5percent.

It is important that we use Texas as a case study. Many union advocates like to blame free trade for the loss of jobs in the rust belt. The Wall Street Journal study exposes the fallacy of that argument. Texas, on the border with Mexico, was deeply affected by NAFTA. Yet, embracing free trade with Mexico led to the creation of jobs, not the loss of jobs. Trade teaches us another lesson. In this era, capital is mobile and so is labor. As long as people and businesses can “vote with their feet” they are going to find more hospitable environments. Our auto manufacturers don’t need to go to China when they can go to a right-to-work state here in United States. Boeing doesn’t need to leave Washington for Mexico when they can go to South Carolina.

I imagine that 20 years ago, Detroit was having the same conversation some of us are having today. Who cares if one new auto plant opens in Alabama instead of Michigan. We are Detroit and we are the center of the auto manufacturing world. That will never change.  Let’s blame free trade or greedy corporations and all our problems will go away. I wonder how long Washington will burry its heads in the sand and appease our unions before Seattle starts to look like Flint?

Unless you want history to repeat itself, it’s time to make Washington State a right-to-work state.