Obama Trash Talks About Right To Work
President Obama joined the debate about Michigan’s “right-to-work” law. “What they’re really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money,” Obama told workers during a visit to the Daimler Detroit Diesel plant in Redford, Michigan. He forgot to mention three important items.
- The right-to-work law will put unemployed people in Michigan back to work. Given the choice, investments into new factories prefer right-to-work states.
- Under the two-class system negotiated by the UAW, new hires already make much less money.
- In a right-to-work state, workers have the right yo work for more money, because they cannot be forced to pay union dues.
According to Reuters, “the new laws are not expected to have much immediate impact because existing union contracts would be preserved, they could, over time, further weaken the UAW, which has already seen its influence wane in negotiating with the major automakers.”
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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Of the 10 states with the highest poverty rates, 8 of them are right to work states. Doesn't seem to be working so well for them.
This discussion isn't going anywhere, but a few people have made comments that bring up something much less controversial and worth saying. No matter what anyone ever says, does, or legislates, the most important thing an individual does economically is decide who to do business with. Taking employment is the most important part of that. There is no free lunch. What you decide has consequences and many of those are not obvious. The government will never solve this situation. On the contrary, it will always exacerbate the problem by regulating employers so their differences are hidden or the bad employers take harsher means to achieve their goals. Meanwhile, as an employer itself, the government will be just as bad as anyone else. Employers and employees are people and quality varies. It's up to you. Deal.
Love all the percentages of who makes what. Most members of the top x percent spend most of their lives in a much lower x percent. A lot of the top earners have been in trade unions. Not too many have been in shop unions except the ones who knew they weren't staying and the ones running the unions. I suppose, if you really have no economic ambition, you may never make it to the top five percent, but most people certainly can. I wonder how many actually do. That would be an interesting stat.
Right To Work was instituted in Oklahoma as a result of vote of the people. RTW had nothing to do with opening or closing the Oklahoma City assembly plant. The factory was noted for high quality, but its distance from suppliers in the upper midwest was a disadvantage. The last product made there was the GMC Envoy and the like. The decision that there would be no replacement product was made at headquarters, to Oklahoma's sorrow.