Thank You Much - Call To Action Success
Read all about it at The STAND
I wanted to thank all the members and the brothers and sisters from the other crafts that took swift action on this critical fight in the WA Legislature. Any advancement or movement on Right to Work will be faced with our strongest opposition!
In Solidarity,
Daren Konopaski
Business Manager
A link to the public hearing (audio only)
CALL TO ACTION: Opposed to Right to Work Senate Bill 5692 
A “Right to work” bill has been scheduled for public hearing in Olympia in Senator Baumgartner’s Commerce, Labor and Sports committee on Wednesday, February 8, at 1:30pm in Senate Hearing Room 4. Senate Bill 5692 would allow individuals to benefit from Union representation without paying their fair share. Senator Baumgartner has decided to take a play right out of the playbook at work in D.C. and we need to tell him Not in this Washington, here we pay for our services. This is an assault on Unions plain and simple.
At this time, we are asking ALL construction union members living in and around Spokane to call Senator Baumgartner’s office at 360-786-7610, after 6:00pm once every day through, and including Tuesday February 7 (or until the bill is removed from the agenda), and tell him you are Opposed to Right to Work Senate Bill 5692.
This bill is an insult to Labor, but keep in mind that we should always be looking to build bridges with legislators, not walls. Comments should be polite and on message. The following bullet points are offered as possible points to address. As members call back over the coming few days, different points may be used.
Begin with your name and place of residence and say that you are
Opposed to Right to Work Senate Bill 5692
Then build from the following:
- Right-to-work laws don't grant any rights, they simply weaken unions
- These laws allow workers who do not pay union dues to obtain the same benefits, including legal representation from unions, as union members without paying for them
- Workers (union and non-union) in right-to-work states make more than $5,000 a year less, on average, than in other states
- States without right-to-work laws have healthier tax bases, which leads to better government programs and educational systems
- Because unions lead in the fight to ensure safety and health standards for all workers, laws that weaken unions also weaken these standards. The workplace death rate is 51 percent higher in right-to-work states
- Without strong unions to fight for benefits for workers, right-to-work states have 21 percent more people without health insurance
- The infant mortality rate in right-to-work states is 16 percent higher
- Without strong unions to fight for better wages for all workers, the poverty rate in right-to-work states is 2.3 percent higher
- Right-to-work states offer a maximum weekly worker compensation benefit $30 less than other states
- Right-to-work laws disproportionately harm women. Union women, on average, earn $149 more per week than non-union women
- The wage gap between men and women in the United States is 32 percent. It is only 5 percent between union men and women
- Right-to-work laws disproportionately harm people of color. Hispanic and Latino union members earn 45 percent more and African-Americans who are in unions see salaries 30 percent higher than African-Americans that are not in unions
- The more workers that are unionized, the higher the wages that employers will offer, even to non-union workers, since workers are less willing to accept substandard wages
- Higher wages mean more money is spent by working families, boosting the economy and leading to lower unemployment numbers
- Higher rates of unionism lead to increases in productivity in both union jobs and non-union jobs, as employers must bring in new technology, new techniques and better training in order to attract better workers
- Employers frequently offer higher wages to workers in order to prevent them from organizing a union, meaning that even the presence of unions and the possibility of their existence in a workplace increases wages
- Right-to-work laws interfere with employer-worker contracts by limiting what the two sides can engage in. These laws don't encourage freedom, they restrain it for all involved, placing the 'wisdom' of conservative politicians over that of both employers and workers
