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What is Right to Work?
This anti-middle class amendment makes it harder for workers to join together to work for better wages, benefits and workplaces. It's being pushed nationally, not by workers, but by big political donors that put corporate interests before working people and the middle class.

Specifically, right to work laws (allowed by the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947) prevent employers and employees from negotiating a type of agreement called a union security clause. A union security clause says that if the union represents you, you have to pay your share of the cost they incur. So, what banning that type of agreement means is that if someone gets a job in a unionized workplace, the union has to represent them, but the worker has not responsibility to the union. They get the wages and benefits negotiated, however improved those may be (union members earn, on average, 28% more than nonunion members), and don't contribute to the costs of negotiating. If they're fired illegally, the union must represent them for free, no matter how much staff time and resources go into defending them. And if they feel like the union didn't do well enough representing them for free, they can sue.

Why pass right to work laws?
Researchers and commentators from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation to the New York Times editorial board agree-right to work laws have the single goal of reducing unions' power to advocate for good working family policy and silencing the collective voice of organized workers.

What are the effects of right to work laws on unions?
Right to work laws financially weaken and eventually cripple unions by requiring them and their members to pay for the representation of those who opt out of paying dues, but sill benefit from the union's representation. As you can see below, it's a vicious cycle that ultimately leaves the union with very few resources to protect workers, negotiate contracts, enforce collective bargaining agreements and advance pro-working family policies.

• Fewer workers join or pay fair share
• Fewer union resources to represent workers
• Less collective bargaining & ability to advance pro-working family policy
• Lower wages, fewer worker protections & less pro-working family policy

Do right to work laws have any effect beyond harming unions?
Yes! Union membership in right to work states is less than half that in free-bargaining states. As a result, median family income is lower, more people are uninsured, the wage gap for women and people of color is greater, schools spend less per pupil and perform less well, and infant mortality if higher.

Right to work laws also hurt economic development. Some examples:

• Wages for all workers are driven down. Both union and non-union workers in states with these laws make an average of $5,538 less per year than those living in states without the law.
• Local jobs are lost. Not only do right to work laws not create more jobs, but they actually cause local economies to lose them. While there are many ways jobs are lost due to RTW, one statistic from the Economic Policy Institute is especially frightening - every $1 million in wage cuts, results in six jobs lost in the local economy. Doing the math including just Minnesota's 300,000 union members, our state would lose nearly 10,000 jobs!
• Benefits are reduced. Employers in right to work states are less likely to offer benefits and workers are currently losing health insurance coverage 70 percent fast than in non-right to work states.
• Workplace safety suffers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of workplace deaths is 50 percent higher in right to work states.
• Less investment in schools. Right to work means lower school funding, more layoffs and larger class sizes. For example, during the 2008-2009 school year, right to work states spent only $9,005 per student, compared to $10,966 in Minnesota.

Seven of the 10 poorest state are right to work states. However, in states like Minnesota where a high percentage of residents belong to union., the quality of life is better.

Quality of life Weak Union Strong Union Union Advantage
Poverty 13.3% 10.6% 2.7% less poverty
Household Income $38,854 $46,378 $7,542 more income
Residents with no 15.1% 11.8% 3.3% fewer uninsured
Healthcare

Go to www.MiddleClassMN.org to pledge to take action to stop Right to Work Constitutional Amendment and sigh up for action alerts.

2012 Scholarship Applications:

2012 Minnesota AFL-CIO Community Services Awards
2012 Minnesota AFL-CIO Scholarship
2012 Martin Duffy Adult Learner Scholarship Award

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Sheet Metal Federal C.U. 1691 East Cope Ave Maplewood, MN 55109 Ph: (651) 747-1540 Web Address smwfcu.com	1st National Bank Bemidji PO BOX 670 Bemidji, MN 56619-0670 Ph: (218) 333-2430 Web Address fnbbemidji.com	Hermantown C.U. 2002 London Road #108  Duluth, MN 55815 Ph: (218) 728-3850 Web Address hermantownfcu.org	Sioux Falls C.U. 700 East 14th Street Sioux Falls, SD 57104 Ph: (605) 334-2471 Web Address siouxfallsfcu.org	Merchant Bank Green Meadows Office 1600 Green View Drive SW Rochester, MN 55902 Ph: (507) 282-7535
Merchant Bank - Main Office 102 3rd St E. Winona, MN 55987 Ph: (507) 457-1100	USbancorp JAMESTOWN 123 First Ave PO Box 2100 Jamestown, ND 58401 Ph: (701) 253-2774 Web Address usbank.com	City Credit Union 1661 East Cope Ave Maplewood, MN 55109 Ph: (651) 225-2700 Web Address cccu.com/home	Dakota Star 3122 West St Louis Rapid City, SD 57702 Ph: (605)342.3301 Web Address dakotastar.org	USBancorp WILLMAR 318 2nd Street SW Willmar, MN 56201 Ph: (320) 231-8207 Web Address usbank.co