Do Right to Work Laws Make Sense?
Posted at 9:30 a.m. on Dec. 13, 2012
Michael Kinsley laments the continued spread of “right to work” laws banning compulsory union dues, arguing that they “have become another weapon in the pointless, costly and ultimately zero-sum competition among states to attract new businesses.”
“No factory moves to a new state without the factory’s owners blackmailing the state for a package of benefits that typically includes right-to-work status along with various financing arrangements misusing the states’ power to issue federal-tax-free bonds.”
“But studies show, naturally, that states with right-to-work laws attract more new business than states without them. No doubt. That’s not the same as proving that the favors and privileges offered to business by states make economic sense.”
