"Right to Work", as in "a right to work state"

"Right to work" belongs in whateverland. Here is a designer phrase that's been used to build our thriving servile economy. There are more than 5 million undocumented workers in the United States who have the "right to work" in such industries as landscaping, commercial cleaning and at the 40,000 Big Box Megalomarts that have wiped out about a billion small neighborhood retailers.

It's about as 1984 as anything you'll find in whateverland.


The phrase "Right to work" is used to brainwash people into thinking that unions are oppressive and that workers are made free of the kind of intervention that unions bring to raise their wages, fight for health care, and retirement savings programs that actually leave retirees with something at the end of the line. It's good for companies that want workers to get "right to work" for the lowest wage they can pay them to do just enough work not to get fired. When companies pay people just enough not to quit, they typically get just enough work not to get fired.

There are foundations-- well funded, of course, that actually advertise themselves as "protecting workers" from unions (see, here). They will take all kind of donations-- life insurance, annuities, real estate to beat back the harzards of collective bargaining (see here).

Makes one wonder, what would Moses do?

So the next time the fella from the group that wants to help you raise your pay, increase your medical benefits and get you a better retirement fund, you should exercise your "right to work". Tell that group-- HELL NO. You have rights. You don't need help and you sure do not need to band together into a group that can negotiate better than a single individual asking for these things. Tell them you have the right to work as hard as you can to get paid just enough not to quit. Hey, it's not all about money, right?

But can half a million MBAs be wrong?