Posted by
Bert Chapman on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 5:43:50 PM
I strongly urge Indiana, Ohio, and other states to enact right to work legislation. Studies from organizations as diverse as the Cato Institute, Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, and National Right to Work Committee demonstrate that right to work states are more attractive to prospective employers, have higher economic growth rates, and are less likely to have acute budget problems due to insufficiently funded public pension obligations.
The right to choose professional associations should be a hallmark characteristic of constitutional democracy. Even American Federation of Labor founder Samuel Gompers opposed compulsory unionism. However, union bosses think they alone know what's best for their workers and arrogantly believe they can force workers to join and financially support supports which are more interested in promoting infantile class warfare and values contrary to the economic interests and personal values of their members. States having right to work laws are in the south and southwest which is where the nation's population center is migrating and consists of states experiencing higher levels of economic growth. It's time for Indiana and other states to get on the right side of economic history and join these states and enhance their attractiveness to U.S. and international job creators.
Individual workers are capable of determining their preferred working environments more successfully than union bosses who are determined to retain their political and economic power base at all costs despite the damage this does to individual workers and state economic stability. This is being demonstrated in Wisconsin, Ohio, and my own state Indiana as union sycophants are bused into rallies designed to coerce state legislators and as elected Democratic legislators in Wisconsin and Indiana cowardly fail to fulfill their legislative responsibilities by either fleeing to another state or not showing up for work. A comparable development happened in Texas a few years ago when crybaby Democrats decided to protest Republican redistricting legislation by fleeing north across the Red River to Oklahoma. Notice the pattern and the perpetrators?
I hope GOP state legislative leaders in these states change their parliamentary procedural rules to reduce the number of members whose attendance is required for a quorum to a simple majority and to proceed to vote on important collective bargaining reform legislation even if Democrats are awol. Disciplinary sanctions should also be imposed on able-bodied legislators who refuse to participate in legislative proceedings because they don't like legislation which is being debated. It's vitally important that state legislatures heed the public will and not let themselves be intimidated by union thugs who belong in authoritarian or totalitarian regimes like Iran, Libya, and North Korea instead of the United States.