subject: The Principle of Right-to-Work [print this page] It's common for workplaces to have labor unions. Employees build unions in order to provide everyone in a company a better working condition. Leaders of the union deal with employers and negotiate for labor contracts or collective bargaining. Amount of wage, company rules or regulations, procedures for hiring, firing or promotion, and benefits are some of the issues that labor unions and employers settle. Their agreements are considered binding.
Even if having a labor union is common, not all workplaces have such organizations. Employees are not compelled to join any union for that matter, as declared under Right-to-work laws. This law also states that no employee should be forced to pay dues to a labor union. Right-to-work is affirmed by the Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act and is the guiding concept of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
The principle is often mistaken for employment at-will, which is an entirely different concept. Currently, there are 22 states that passed the Right-to-work law. Also under the Taft-Hartley Act, or the National Labor Relations Act, states could decide to be any of the following, if they plan to enact the Right-to-work law:
Closed shop: An employee in a company with a labor union must join and pay dues.
Open shop: Employees can work even if they don't join an existing union, and they are still part of the bargaining unit. States who implement this are the "right-to-work" states.
Agency shop: An employee must pay dues but is not subject to the union.
Even if the employee has the prerogative whether to join a union or not, he is still considered a part of "collective bargaining unit." This means that an employee who is not part of the union can still be represented by its leaders, just like the members of the union who is on the same bargaining unit as he is.
Leaders of the union have "exclusive representation" which allows them do to so. Non-member employees are deprived of their right to bargain for themselves with the employer because of "compulsory union representation." However, in case the employee had to be represented by the union, he has to pay dues. The payment will only be given after the representation or if the non-member refuses to challenge the cost demanded by the union.
