USA Today: Open-shop laws threaten unions

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2007-07-25-uaw-open-shop-laws_N.htm

By Sharon Silke Carty, USA TODAY
DETROIT — Edward Sioui has always been able to make a living in Michigan without a college degree. So in July 2001, when his mom had a heart attack in Arizona, he figured it would be easy to pick up, move near her, and maybe enjoy living in a warmer climate for a while.

Exactly 364 days later, frustrated by his meager paychecks and sweltering in the desert heat, he and his wife, Debbie, headed back to Michigan.

He blamed his family's inability to make a living in Arizona on the state's open-shop, or right-to-work, laws, which hinder union growth. Even with cheaper housing, he couldn't make ends meet on $12.25 an hour, and the work environment rankled him.

"You're not treated with any respect," Sioui says, who is happy to be back in Michigan even though he is currently laid off. "You're just dispensable, and they know it, so they treat you that way."

Sioui is among the blue-collar workers who are dismayed that business leaders and politicians are talking about making Michigan the country's 23rd state with an open-shop or right-to-work law. Right-to-work is the phrase union opponents use to describe what unions call open shops. Under such laws, union membership is not required to get a job, and workers can choose whether they want to be in a union, even if a company is unionized. That makes it harder for unions to organize new members in already-unionized plants and makes it more difficult to bring unions to new sites. Ultimately, unions say, it means more non-union workers earning lower non-union wages.

That the discussion is even happening in Michigan, which ranks fourth in the nation for its number of union-represented employees, is dramatic. Union pride — and influence — runs deep here, the birthplace and current home base of the United Auto Workers. It's a state where holidays are extended by union days off, such as the Monday after Easter and a week around July Fourth. And where even non-unionized white-collar workers admit their wages and benefits wouldn't be where they are without the influence of the UAW.

FULL story at link.

[Deja Q]

1. "No one is indispensible" says businesses. Yet we're a "culture of life" say pro-family folks.

How can one political party cater to both ideals?

They can't.

[Bluzmann57]

2. "Right to work"

For less. I hate that law. We would not be where we're at without organized Labor and the business people know it. That's why they hate Unions.

[sarcasmo]

3. Michigan #1 in unemployment. Good luck to him if he thinks he can find

Twelve an hour.