(The Lion) — Researchers have debunked the claim that pro-union states have higher average wages than right-to-work states.
Despite widespread claims that labor unions boost wages, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy found right-to-work states were the ones with higher wages.
Right-to-work laws, which prohibit companies from forcing employees to join unions or pay dues, can be traced back to the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, but pro-union groups like the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations) claim they’re “designed to take away rights from working people.”
“The real purpose of right to work laws is to tilt the balance toward big corporations and further rig the system at the expense of working families,” AFL-CIO continues. “These laws make it harder for working people to form unions and collectively bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions.”
In reality, right-to-work laws only prevent unions from strongarming employees into joining – or forcing them to pay dues even if they haven’t joined.
Currently, 26 states have right-to-work measures.
Nevertheless, analyses, like this one from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), still claim pro-union states have 3% to 9% higher wages than right-to-work states.
But according to a review by Christopher Douglas, an economics professor at the University of Michigan and member of Mackinac’s board of scholars, EPI’s comparison is “apples-to-oranges” and fails to “control for state-level differences.”
“Because states differ in numerous ways, we must account for these differences to isolate as much as possible the effect of having a right-to-work law,” Douglas wrote.
Using the same data but a more rigorous methodology, he came to the opposite conclusion. Right-to-work states actually had 2% higher wages than pro-union states.
“Conducting a thorough and balanced economic analysis requires a firm understanding of the methodology,” Douglas concluded. “Unfortunately, EPI’s analysis fell short. Right-to-work laws are not associated with lower average wages.”
Even setting wages aside, teachers and other public sector employees are growing tired of overly politicized and leftist unions.
Both of America’s national teachers’ unions – the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers – are bleeding members by the thousands.
The Florida Education Association alone lost over 20,000 members in one year after a new state law prohibited unions from strong-arming teachers into paying dues.
