As of September 2016, 26 states had adopted right-to-work (RTW) laws, up from a
long-standing 22 before 2011 (Table 1).
Other states such as Missouri and Kentucky appear poised to join this group. The
essence of RTWlaws is to prohibit requiring union membership even in a workplace
covered by a legally elected union. The rationale for this prohibition is individual
freedom. If the individual does not want to join a union, that person cannot be
required to do so even if he/she receives union-won benefits such as wage level,
health insurance, paid vacation, defined holidays, protection from baseless firing,
protection from favoritism in promotion/demotion, and safe and healthy working
conditions.
Sociologists and anthropologists who compare cultures internationally often
label America as hyperindividualistic, indeed the most individualistic culture on
earth (Bellah et al. 2007). This label neglects the collectivist traditions of the
immigrants and the history of periods of collectivism such as the Great Reform
and World War II and its immediate aftermath. Labor unions balanced the power of
corporations over workers and minimized the inhumane exploitation that the Great
Reform publicized and fought. Labor unions formed part of the collectivist surge.
Of course, all forms of collectivism, whether labor unions, tenants’ rights groups,
civil rights organizations, etc., elicit hostile responses by the capitalist class. RTW
laws strengthen the anti-collectivist armory of that class, and the political forces
behind their enactment include such sources of funds as the Koch brothers’ PACs.
With the demise of American industry and the funneling of an ever greater
proportion of the nation’s wealth into a smaller proportion of its population, labor
unions find themselves besieged. The spread of RTW laws tracks the weakening
of labor unions and of collectivist engagement throughout the nation. This book
explores some consequences of that retreat.