Hillary Clinton urged organized labor officials and members to rally to her cause, promising to be a fierce opponent of the Right to Work movement and warning that Donald Trump is “100 percent” supportive of it.
The Democratic presidential nominee made the comments in a video message to the Laborers International Union of North America meeting in Las Vegas.
“I will fight back against so-called Right to Work. Right to Work is wrong for workers and wrong for America,” said Clinton.
But what is Right to Work?
“Right to Work simply means you have the choice whether or not to join or financially support a labor union as a condition of getting or keeping a job in America. It really is that simple,” said National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix.
He says the message is really aimed at labor bosses.
“I think what she’s trying to convey to union officials, not rank-and-file workers, is that if she is elected president, she will stand in the way of a growing movement to free workers from compulsory unionism,” said Mix.
“I think this is the fifth or sixth time she has made this an issue in various venues about how she believes workers should be fired from their jobs if they don’t tender union fees or dues to a labor boss,” he added.
Mix also says the labor bosses are more than ready to carry the water for Clinton in the final weeks of this campaign.
“There’s no question that the union bosses across the country will spend literally hundreds of millions of dollars trying to put her in the White House so that she can stand in defense of this compulsory unionism privilege that union officials have,” said Mix.
In the video, Clinton says the agendas of her and Donald Trump couldn’t be more different and wondered why this election wasn’t a rout in the polls.
“Why aren’t I 50 points ahead, you might ask. Well, the choice for working families has never been clearer. I need your help to get Donald Trump’s record out to everybody. Nobody should be fooled. He proudly declared himself 100 percent Right to Work,” stated Clinton.
Mix says that statement helps to explain why Clinton doesn’t have a big lead in this race. He says the public is against her on this issue.
“The reason she’s not up 50 points is because eight out of ten Americans believe it’s wrong to force workers to pay dues to get or keep a job,” said Mix.
He says Trump is standing on the side of the majority of Americans who believe workers should get to choose whether they join a union and pay dues.
To date, 26 states have enacted Right to Work laws, allowing labor groups to attempt unionizing, but ultimately leaving the decision up to the employees. Mix says the economic performance in those states is stunning compared to the 24 states that do not embrace Right to Work.
“Those states that had it from 2005-2015 had nearly double the private sector job growth than the states that didn’t have Right to Work. As far as business location, site selection and business expansion, Right to Work states are leading the country in creating new opportunities and new jobs for people,” said Mix.
“Union officials ought to be happy about that. They can go into those states where the new jobs are and they can try to organize those workers. The problem that union officials have and that Hillary Clinton has is that they think they ought to be granted this government privilege to force everyone to pay them a fee,” said Mix.
It’s the federal government that granted labor unions the power to force workers to join unions and pay dues back in the Franklin Roosevelt administration. The 1947 Taft-Hartley Act kept the policy in place but allowed states to take action to remove those requirements for workers.
Mix says if Hillary Clinton wins and gets enough allies in Congress, the right of states to decide their own paths on Right to Work could be in jeopardy.
“What Hillary Clinton could do is join with her supporters in Congress and union officials here in Washington and try to repeal Section 14B of the Taft-Hartley Act and wipe out all 26 Right to Work laws in fell swoop,” said Mix.
