Liberal in the Land of Conservative: Better Know A Contributor: Anti-Union PAC

Better Know A Contributor: Anti-Union PAC

5:45 PM | Posted in Better Know A Contributor, Michele Bachmann

This is the second of a several part series examining some of the organizations and individuals who have decided to contribute to the Michele Bachmann for Congress Campaign. It is widely known that Elwyn Tinklenberg has widespread support from the union community. However, for those union members considering voting for Michele Bachmann, you need to know that she is receiving support from right wing organizations whose sole purpose is to destroy the union movement in this country. The National Right to Work Committee PAC has given Michele Bachmann $1,000 so far this election cycle and upwards of $5,000 during the '06 election cycle.

What is the National Right to Work Committee?

Their claim is that they are "dedicated to the principle that all Americans must have the right to join a union if they choose to, but none should ever be forced to affiliate with a union in order to get or keep a job." However, they are little more than a deceptively named, anti-union, conservative front group. They seek to implement "right to work" laws across the country. According to the AFL-CIO:

Right to work laws lower wages for everyone. The average worker in a right to work state makes about $5,333 a year less than workers in other states ($35,500 compared with $30,167).[1] Weekly wages are $72 greater in free-bargaining states than in right to work states ($621 versus $549).[2] Working families in states without right to work laws have higher wages and benefit from healthier tax bases that improve their quality of life.
Federal law already protects workers who don’t want to join a union to get or keep their jobs. Supporters claim right to work laws protect employees from being forced to join unions. Don’t be fooled—federal law already does this, as well as protecting nonmembers from paying for union activities that violate their religious or political beliefs. This individual freedom argument is a sham.
Right to work endangers safety and health standards that protect workers on the job by weakening unions that help to ensure worker safety by fighting for tougher safety rules. According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of workplace deaths is 51 percent higher in states with right to work, where unions can’t speak up on behalf of workers.[3]
Right to work laws just aren’t fair to dues-paying members. If a nonunion worker is fired illegally, the union must use its time and money to defend him or her, even if that requires going through a costly legal process. Everyone benefits, so all should share in the process. Nonmembers can even sue the union if they think it has not represented them well enough.

As the right wing blogosphere ramps up their anti-union rhetoric about the Employee Free Choice Act, it is important to remember that candidates such as Bachmann have no interest in defending the rights of workers. Rather, they are seeking to further fracture the union community so that they can eventually achieve a union free country. While union members are by no means a monolithic group, the one thing they ought to be doing is sticking together to defeat anti-union representatives such as Michele Bachmann.

Cross Posted on Dump Bachmann