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.
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