Op-Ed: To win the South, unions should embrace right to work

The United Auto Workers’ recent success organizing a Chattanooga, Tenn., Volkswagen factory and an upcoming vote at a Mercedes-Benz factory in Alabama raise the possibility the labor movement will finally get a foothold in Southern states.

Look for the unions to make their next step to attack the region’s right to work laws that prevent workers from being obligated to join or otherwise financially support a union they oppose.

All Southern states have right to work laws. Technically, the laws are limitations on management, prohibiting them from signing union collective bargaining contracts that obligate workers to back the union. These types of contracts called “security clauses” are a common feature of bargaining contracts in the 24 states that lack right to work laws: Workers literally have to support a union or lose their job.

Read the full article on The Center Square.