The Right to Work: A Fundamental Freedom

The following article by National Right to Work Legel Defense Foundation President Mark Mix appeared in the June/July issue of Imprimis, a publication of Hillsdale College sent each month to 1.9 million subscribers. The article is adapted from a lecture given at Hillsdale College in January 2011.

Right to Work in the Charleston Post & Courier: «NLRB Aims to Maximize Union Dues»

Writing in The Charleston Post & Courier, National Right to Work President Mark Mix explains the broader issues at stake in the NLRB's complaint against Boeing: So why is the National Labor Relations Board so incensed about Boeing's decision to open a new production line in South Carolina? And why is the IAM so eager to keep Boeing in Washington State? The answer is simple. South Carolina protects workers' freedom of choice. The state's longstanding Right to Work law ensures that while workers have the right to join a union, they cannot be forced to join or pay dues to a union just to get or keep a job. Washington State, on the other hand, allows union officials to extract dues from nonunion workers as a condition of employment.

More Television Coverage: Boeing South Carolina employee says «We’re fighting back» to keep our jobs

National Right to Work President Mark Mix was interviewed on two Fox Business programs about the Right to Work Foundation's efforts to help Charleston Boeing employees protect their jobs: Meanwhile, a local Charleston news station interviewed Dennis Murray, one of the Boeing employees who, with the help of Foundation attorneys, is taking action against the NLRB and union lawyers' attempt to put Murray and his co-workers out of a job:

Worker Advocate: Obama General Counsel Opposition “A Bald-faced Lie of Weiner-esque Proportions”

Washington, DC (June 8, 2011) – Yesterday, Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon, International Association of Machinist (IAM) union lawyers, and Boeing Company (NYSE: BA) attorneys responded to a motion filed by three North Charleston Boeing employees seeking to intervene in the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) case against Boeing. The North Charleston employees are receiving free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. The NLRB’s complaint, if successful, would almost certainly eliminate thousands of jobs in South Carolina, including those of the three Boeing workers represented by Foundation attorneys. Foundation President Mark Mix released the following statement in response to the Acting General Counsel’s and IAM union lawyers’ opposition to the employees’ motion:

Video: National Right to Work Criticizes Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis for Gutting Union Transparency Requirements

National Right to Work President Mark Mix appeared on "Your World with Neil Cavuto" to discuss Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis's efforts to undermine union transparency. Check out the video below:  

Worker Advocate: Obama Labor Board’s Case Against Boeing «An Assault on Right to Work Laws»

Washington, DC (April 21, 2011) – In response to the National Labor Relations Board's complaint against Boeing that, if successful, would eliminate over 1,000 jobs in South Carolina, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation President Mark Mix released the following statement: "The National Labor Relations Board's complaint is just the latest giveaway to Big Labor by an Obama Administration that has already erased union financial disclosure requirements and kept workers in the dark about the right to refrain from union membership. Once again the Board is putting union boss priorities ahead of the rights and well-being of individual employees.

Right to Work in The Daily Caller: «In Wisconsin, Big Labor politicians help make Right to Work case»

Writing in The Daily Caller, Right to Work President Mark Mix explains how Big Labor activism in Wisconsin has dramatized the issue of forced union dues: . . . millions of Americans are now learning about the bitterness with which union-label politicians are defending their forced dues-funded campaign machines. And now citizens are beginning to understand more clearly than ever before why no union official, whether government or private-sector, should ever have been granted forced-dues privileges in the first place, and why it is absolutely necessary to revoke those privileges in order to clean up our political system.

Right to Work on Fox News: Why Union Monopoly Bargaining Doesn’t Work for the Public Sector

Last week, Right to Work President Mark Mix sat down with Judge Andrew Napolitano of Fox News to discuss the protests in Wisconsin and the problems of union monopoly bargaining in the public sector. Check out the video below:  

Right to Work in the News: The Case for Free Choice in the Workplace

With public attention being paid to state battles over union boss powers, Right to Work proposals have received plenty of attention from national publications. In The Washington Examiner, Right to Work President Mark Mix explains that states are turning to Right to Work laws to jump-start their troubled economies and safeguard workers' rights: The logic of state Right-to-Work laws is ironclad: Not only is safeguarding worker freedom the right thing to do,it also yields tremendous economic benefits. Recent studies from the Cato Institute and the National Institute for Labor Relations Research suggest that Right-to-Work states enjoy higher job growth and more cost-of-living-adjusted disposable income for workers than their forced-unionism counterparts.

Workers’ Rights Are At Stake in Labor Battles Nationwide, But Not in the Way Union Bosses Claim

Last week, Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work, pointed out in Investor's Business Daily that the real issue in the ongoing battles between Big Labor and reform-minded public officials in various states across the country is getting lost in the union bosses' self-serving rhetoric. As Mix notes, given the media coverage of the battle in Wisconsin: