For decades, anti-union ideological forces have led an assault against union rights in the U. S. These forces picked up the pace in recent years, and were able to pass so-called right-to-work laws in several states.The term right-to-work is misleading and right-to-work laws certainly don’t give anyone any rights. They are designed to weaken unions, shrink the unionized percentage of the construction market (our market share), and put downward pressure on our wages and benefits.In states with right-to-work laws, nothing changes between the employer and the workers, but the laws tie the union’s hands. In right-to-work states, a carpenter can work for a union contractor, get union-negotiated wage rates, participate in the union health and pension plans, and attend apprenticeship and other training programs at the union training center. But that carpenter is allowed to opt out of paying union dues.Those who opt out are freeloaders and they force other dues-paying members to cover the cost of everyone’s representation. That means depleted union staff have less time to spend recruiting new members, flipping jobs, marketing our training, and growing our union market share.https://www.carpenters.org/right-to-work/
