For decades, the Republicans have have been masters at framing issues in such a way that Democrats and our progressive allies look bad when we try to oppose their proposals. There are dozens of examples of this, but I just want to focus on just one — the so-called “Right to Work” legislation.
As you may know, this legislation purportedly bans the practice of requiring employees to join a union where there is a union contract. This practice, however, was banned by the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. What it really does is forbid unions to charge employees for union services, such as contract negotiations, grievance arbitration, and other services even though they are required by a decision of the Supreme Court to provide such services even to non-union employees. Calling this legislation "right to work," therefore, sets a well-crafted trap for unions and their progressive supporters, because as long as they fight this legislation without changing the way the issue is framed, the low-information voter is going to wonder why unions are fighting against his/her right to work.
The unions argue against the legislation by saying that it's really a right to work for less. That hasn't worked, however, because people don't really care if they're working for less as long as they're working. Just look at all the people who work for Walmart, McDonald's, or any other low-wage employer. Furthermore, the explanation for how this legislation leads to working for less cannot be distilled down to a simple sound bite. It requires discussion about studies and statistics and other boring facts. I heard such a discussion and even I had found it to be a good cure for insomnia. I can only imagine, therefore how much worse such a discussion would be for someone who hardly pays attention to politics.
We must, therefore, change the frame by calling this legislation what it really is - a Right to Freeload; a right for an employee to receive potentially expensive services for free. Calling it a right to freeload immediately puts us on the offensive. Nobody likes freeloaders, and we can point out the hypocrisy of the Republicans who rail against the “freeloaders” on welfare, but have no problem with freeloading workers who benefit from union services without paying for them.
I have been told by many people, including legislators and union leaders, that we can't change the frame, because we would only succeed in confusing people. Such timidity, in my opinion, is why we keep losing. The Republicans keep talking about the "Death Tax," not caring that its official name is the Inheritance Tax and had been called that for years. Thus they succeeded in changing the frame of that issue. With bold determination and discipline we can do the same for the Right to Freeload legislation and ultimately defeat it.
In my view, however, time for defeating this damaging legislation is rapidly running out. More and more state legislatures are passing their own versions of it, and it is only a matter of time, with the Republican Congress and Donald Trump hell bent on destroying organized labor, before freeloading off the backs of unions becomes permissible everywhere.