10 poorest states--I guess those right to work laws aren't helping

[coldmountain]

Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, New Mexico, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Carolina and Oklahoma

These states don't exactly spend a lot in education but they do have good college football teams.


http://247wallst.com/special-report/2013/09/19/americas-richest-and-poorest-states/7/

[Staph]

1. West Virginia does not have a right to work law.

And this afternoon, both of our University football teams lost (West Virginia and Marshall Universities).

Le sigh!

[1-Old-Man]

7. Yes, but at least you could drive through Morgantown.

[a la izquierda]

14. The traffic in Morgantown is my biggest gripe...

with this place. Other than that, it's great.

[a la izquierda]

13. People don't seem to get West Virginia...

Unions are hugely important here, as are local democratic politics (at least this is what I've observed since moving here in June).

[rustydog]

2. You guessed wrong! It is working EXACTLY the way business and the GOP planned

[RedCappedBandit]

20. +1

[Thinkingabout]

3. LABI in Louisiana worked very hard to get the law to pass, they said it would bring more jobs to

Louisiana, wrong. It was business working for cheap labor.

[libdem4life]

4. It's the Right to Work For Less to qualify for Food Stamps to make up the difference.

[pscot]

5. New Mexico isn't a right to work state

and doesn't really resemble the others on the list except for the endemic poverty.

[FreakinDJ]

9. Actually Wages are Higher in New Mexico then Texas (Right to Work State)

Texas $26.77 (Right to Work State)
New Mexico $29.90

IBEW Scale

[pediatricmedic]

6. I think long term socioeconomics is a bigger factor then right to work laws

[doc03]

8. Didn't Romney carry all those states? Wouldn't those

states have a large percentage of the "Takers"?

[NMDemDist2]

17. he didn't carry NM. we went blue. n/t

[gopiscrap]

10. Yes and the problem is that folks keep on voting against themselves and eachother.

[NMDemDist2]

18. NM is blue n/t

[Skittles]

11. it's the usual suspects

serously, who couldn't guess most of them?

[Scuba]

12. Solidarity.

[Nanjing to Seoul]

15. Thank God for right to starve laws!

[Art_from_Ark]

16. Just what we need, more South-bashing

[cordelia]

22. What did you expect?

[Art_from_Ark]

19. Let me tell you the story of Cass Hough

to help you understand a little about the situation, from my little corner of the South.

In the 1950s, Cass Hough was a director of Daisy Manufacturing Company, which at the time was headquartered in Michigan. But in 1958, a surprising thing happened-- his company relocated to Rogers, Arkansas. In Michigan, management and labor had had a somewhat confrontational relationship, but after moving to Arkansas, Mr. Hough and the other directors found a workforce that was extremely cooperative and appreciated the wages they were receiving, which were higher than typical wages for retail workers, or even workers in local factories, which were nearly all associated with food production (vinegar, poultry, canning, etc.). And the workers in Arkansas were producing quality products. I knew people in the mid-60s who worked for Daisy and they were PROUD of that. Mr. Hough became a kind of local hero, with several municipal facilities like the library named in his honor.

Soon after Daisy relocated to Rogers, other manufacturers followed, including Deming Company (later Crane), Munsingwear (later Bear Brand), TRW-Wendt Sonis, Union Carbide, Emerson Electric. Within 20 years of Daisy's move to Rogers, 15 to 20 other manufacturing plants had moved there as well. People were glad to get a job at one of those plants, because the wages were higher than the average wage in the area, and they could make a pretty decent living.

Why did all of these industries relocate to Rogers? It was because of right-to-work, and the fact the workers in the Rogers area were skilled and viewed management (at least at the time) as a partner rather than as an adversary.

Things have changed in the ensuing years, and some of those industries I mentioned have moved out. But it was not because of the right-to-work laws, nor was it because the workers were stupid or unskilled. It was in large part due to corporate attitudes, with management taking an adversarial attitude toward their employees, who had been transformed into little more than "human resources". There was also the need to constantly placate Wall Street with ever-increasing profits, so some of those companies packed up and moved to low-wage countries.

[B Calm]

21. Look for Indiana to join the list after republicans passed the right to work for less law.