Well, the workplace apocalypse is upon us.
At least that’s what you’d think if you listen to some of the politicians and union bosses in Illinois.
For the first time in decades, an Illinois governor has dared to utter the words “right to work.”
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s pronouncement last week that he would like to allow “worker empowerment zones” where employees working for unionized organizations would have the option of not paying dues to a union.
Rauner says he doesn’t want to make Illinois a right-to-work state where, by law, employees have the right to decide whether they join or pay dues to a union.
But he does want to empower towns, counties and townships to be able to create right-to-work zones. A similar experiment is taking place in Kentucky.
The idea scares the wits out of union bosses who are deeply reliant on their members contributing regularly through their dues — even from those who don’t want to have anything to do with a union.
But the concept ought to be welcome news to most Illinoisans.
Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that job growth in right-to-work states is far outpacing other states.
From 2002 to 2012, the economies of right-to-work states grew by a total of 62 percent compared with 46.5 percent in states without the law. Illinois’ economy during that period grew by only 36.9 percent.
Illinois’ neighbors, including Michigan and Indiana, have opted to become right-to-work states in recent years. Iowa has been a right-to-work state for decades. There are now 24 states with a right-to-work law.
More Top Picks Best Reading Glasses With Anti Glare Coating
Missouri has been toying with adopting such a law, and Wisconsin adopted a partial right-to-work law affecting some government workers.
Supporters of right-to-work say it makes states more attractive to businesses and that workers shouldn’t be required to join a union and pay dues as a condition of employment.
Opponents, on the other hand, say it’s not right that workers who do not pay dues receive the same benefits as those who do contribute money to the union.
Those seem like fair and rational arguments on both sides. Unfortunately, some in the labor movement have injected a level of hyperbole into the discourse that benefits no one.
Just consider the comments of state Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, who said union members need to be told the “truth about right to work.
“They need to think about giving up their benefits, giving up their health care and their (40-hour work week),” he said. “And if a boss comes up and you’re wearing the wrong color T-shirt and he wants to fire you, you’re just fired.”
Huh?
Sorry, Gary, I’ve worked in three right-to-work states and never worried once about what color shirt I wore into the office. And I also had excellent health care benefits when I worked in Iowa, Nevada and Texas.
And let’s not forget that 84 percent of Illinois workers don’t belong to a union. Is life really that bleak for those people?
To hear folks such as Forby tell it, one might think that almost half the states in America are dark, sinister places where workers are living in serf-like conditions.
We know that’s not the case. Look no further than the Quad Cities. Half of that metropolitan area lies in a right-to-work state, Iowa, and the other half is in Illinois.
Employees seem just as happy on one side of the Mississippi River as the other. Iowa workers don’t quiver when the boss walks by or find themselves kowtowing to management.
There’s also evidence showing that right-to-work stimulates economic growth.
In 1997, University of Minnesota and Federal Reserve economist Thomas J. Holmes looked at areas where right-to-work states border non-right-to-work states. Holmes found that manufacturing employment was one-third higher on the right-to-work side of the border.
In recent years, the potential for accelerated economic growth has drawn Indiana and Michigan into the right-to-work camp. They are Midwesterners just like us, working hard and providing for their families.
The difference? No one is forcing anyone to join a union or give money to it. Those who contribute want to do so.
What could be fairer?
Scott Reeder is a veteran statehouse reporter and a journalist with the Illinois News Network, a project of the Illinois Policy Institute. He can be reached at [email protected]