Yeah, it's pretty cold. So are my legs, and my feet. I knew the feet were cold while I was standing there in the second hour, but didn't realize how cold my legs and butt were until I started walking back to my car.
I trudged back through the slushy snow on this cold Michigan morning, got in my car, turned the heat up and came home to warm up for a little bit.
While my pootie won't sit on my lap just yet (my jeans are apparently too cold), I'm holding a mug of hot cocoa and feeling pretty good. I'm gonna jump in the shower to warm up, and then head back to stand in the snow.
I am compelled to make sure my fellow Michiganians know that Right-to-Work legislation is terrible for workers and would be a disaster for our struggling economy. So, I'll spend a couple more hours standing in front of a polling station to warn people about a petition circulating to bring Right-to-Work (for less) here.
Below the fold, you'll find some important bullet points about how Right-to-Work is devastating for workers and our economy. Grab a hot cider and join me...
Right-to-Work laws are basically set up as union-busting laws. They dilute the power and pay of union workers, but this has a ripple effect across all businesses - union and non-union. I lived in a Right-to-Work state, and saw how wages were dramatically lower for all workers because "hire only the lowest bidder" became the mentality for all employers. Safety and job security was not a priority for employers, and all workers - both union and non-union - suffered due to Right-to-Work.
People are coming from out-of-state to try and impose this legislation on the people of Michigan. They give false promises of more jobs and "protecting workers", but the truth is that Right-to-Work is bad for all people who work for a living.
In states with Right-to-Work laws, all workers (both non-union and union) make on average more than $5,000 less annually than workers in states without Right-to-Work legislation. Michigan workers are paid an average of $7,601 a year more than workers in states with "Right-to-Work" laws. (source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics) I can't afford to make $7,601 less a year.
Safety issues are higher in states with Right-to-Work laws. The rate of workplace deaths is 51% higher in states with RTW laws than in states without this legislation. (source: Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics and Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect. by the AFL-CIO.)
In states with Right-to-Work laws, both poverty rates and infant mortality rates are higher than in states without this legislation. Right-to-Work states have a poverty rate of 12.5%, compared with 10.2% in other states. The infant mortality rate is 16% higher in RTW states. (Sources: Poverty rates from US Census Bureau at http://ferret.bls.census.gov/... Infant mortality rate data from O'Leary Morgan, Kathleen, and Scott Morgan, State Rankings 2001. Morgan Quitno Press.)
In Right-to-Work states, 21% more people lack health insurance compared to those in free-bargaining states. (Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey, March 2002. Table HI06. Health Insurance coverage status by state for all people: 2001.)
Workers in states without Right-to-Work laws are more likely to have pensions than RTW states. In the private sector, 51.4 percent of Michigan residents have employer-provided pension coverage, compared with 44.4 percent in "right to work" states.
Right-to-Work does not help the manufacturing job crisis. Between 1994 and 2005, North Carolina (a Right-to-Work state) lost 251,000 manufacturing jobs (31 percent of its manufacturing base). Meanwhile, Michigan (which does not have Right-to-Work laws) lost 170,000 factory jobs (20 percent of its manufacturing employment). There is no evidence that RTW will slow or reverse the loss of manufacturing jobs, contrary to what proponents say.
Many people have the misconception that Right-to-Work will provide special protections to workers so they are not forced to join a union to get or to keep a job. The truth is that federal laws already protect workers, ensuring that they do not have to join a union as a condition of employment. Federal laws also protect nonmembers from paying for union activities that violate their religious or political beliefs.
I don't want to see our standard of living further decline.
I don't want to see our paychecks shrink.
I don't want to see more people without access to healthcare.
I don't want to see poverty rise.
I don't want to hear of more preventable infant deaths.
I don't want to see a rise in workplace injuries and deaths.
I don't want to see retired elderly people have to take jobs at Wal-Mart for $5.50 an hour because they have no pension.
I don't want to see battles between union and non-union workers, driving all of our wages lower.
I saw all of these things when I lived in a Right-to-Work state. Right-to-Work laws made me leave the sunny southwest and move to snowy, cold Michigan, a state I could afford to make a living.
That's why it is time to put my boots back on and get out to the polls again.
The AFL-CIO didn't ask me to post this diary. I'm just a concerned citizen who believes more people should be aware of the perils of Right-to-Work legislation. You can access more info on how Right-to-Work is bad for all of us at the following links:
MI AFL-CIO on Right-To-Work
Economic Policy Institute: The Wage Penalty of Right-to-Work Laws
AFL-CIO on Right-to-Work