On Labor Day, we should reflect on the injustice of forced union dues in Pennsylvania – The Mercury

When you're shopping for school supplies for your kids or groceries for a Labor Day barbecue, consider this: The store clerks, shelf stockers, truck drivers and factory workers who make it all possible may be working under a threat: They have to pay union dues or be fired.

Why? Because Pennsylvania is one of 24 states with compulsory unions. In your state, union officials enjoy a special privilege that allows them to legally threaten to pay or fire a worker. By enforcing a monopoly contract, all workers in a unionized Pennsylvania workplace, even those who refuse to join a union, can be forced to pay mandatory dues.

If you think this is unfair, you are not alone. Poll after poll shows that 8 in 10 Americans believe it is wrong to subject workers to this kind of union pressure.

Fortunately, since the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 2018 ruling in Janus v AFSCME, argued and won by lawyers with the National Right to Work Foundation, all public employees enjoy First Amendment protections from being required to pay union dues as a condition of employment. However, private sector workers in states with compulsory unions, such as Pennsylvania, can still be forced to pay union officials money to keep their jobs.

While this is simply wrong, forcing workers to subsidise union officials also harms a country's economy.

A report by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR), based on data from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, found that between 2013 and 2023, the labor force grew nearly twice as fast in Right-to-Work states as in states with compulsory unions: 16 percent in Right-to-Work states versus just 8.3 percent in states where workers can be fired if they refuse to pay union leaders.

The NILRR analysis also found that the cost-of-living-adjusted benefit in per capita disposable income in Right-to-Work states for a family of four is more than $11,000 per year.

The economic data speaks for itself.

Right to work laws do not prohibit unions, nor do they prevent workers from joining a union if they choose to do so. Right to work laws simply codify a common-sense principle: every worker should have the choice to join a union, but no worker should be forced to pay union dues as a condition of employment.

On Labor Day, take a moment to think about the benefits Right to Work brings to workers across the country and what a difference it could make for Pennsylvania. Right to Work could mean more individual freedom and economic opportunity for you and your family. It works in Right to Work states across the country.

Help make Pennsylvania a Right to Work state. Urge your elected officials to embrace the economic opportunity and worker freedom that Right to Work brings.

Mark Mix is ​​president of the National Right to Work Committee and the National Right to Work Foundation.