STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Tuesday, 7 February 2012

[xchrom]

21. Right-to-Work Laws Won’t Bring Back Manufacturing: Ron Klain

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-07/right-to-work-laws-won-t-bring-back-manufacturing-commentary-by-ron-klain.html

***snip

Republican Approach

The opposite approach is embodied by the Republican who delivered that party’s response to Obama’s speech, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. His single-minded and simple “manufacturing plan” wasn’t a feature of his response -- a doom-and-gloom affair that offered little in the way of true alternatives -- but rather was contained in Daniels’ decision to sign a right-to-work law in the days that followed the speech.

Daniels said that Indiana needed “a right-to-work law to capture jobs for which, despite our highly rated business climate, we are not currently being considered.”

There are two problems with right-to-work laws as simple solutions for our manufacturing woes: They aren’t right and they don’t work.

Such laws aren’t right because they entitle a worker to all the benefits of a union-negotiated contract without paying any dues. In other words, they grant a free ride, aimed at undermining the desire of anyone to pay their fair share. Regardless of how you feel about unions, the unfairness of this legislation should offend you.