On the recordJuly 9, 2015
Ronald Reagan once said: ``Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.'' When President Reagan made those remarks in 1980, he recognized then what many can't seem to understand now: efforts to undermine unions are an attack on workers' rights. Unions have long been the foundation of our middle class and helped create the most competitive workforce in the world. The 40-hour workweek, minimum wage, sick leave, workers comp, overtime pay, and child labor laws are just a few of the basic labor rights that unions have championed over the years that many now take for granted; yet for all the good that unions have done to empower all workers across this country, there has been a recent revival in the war against them, and the weapon of choice has been right to work laws. Don't be fooled by the name. The only thing right to work laws do is unfairly allow free-riding workers to benefit from union-negotiated contracts without having to contribute their fair share in the fight. The laws do not, as many supporters complain, protect workers from being forced to become union members. In fact, Federal law already restricts this. In union States, workers covered by union-negotiated contracts can only be required to pay for the cost of bargaining and not for any other union activities. However, over the last few years, there has been an alarming increase in antiunion sentiment.…
