A strong “Right to Work” agenda by New York Republicans and Conservatives would be correct on philosophy and principle; and it also would benefit both the businesses, and the working men and women of New York City and State — but it would require dumping false conservative pro-union-voting State Senators like Martin Golden

Mark Mix’ opinion piece, “What right to work would do for NY,” that appeared in the NY Post for December 12th  laid out several advantages that would accrue to an overwhelming majority of New Yorkers if New York State were to join the ranks of “right to work” states

Mr. Mix, readily acknowledges that, “It’s hard to imagine the Empire State adopting a [r]ght to [w]ork law — but it would be [the right thing to do] for businesses, taxpayers and workers.”

“Right to work” laws don’t ban the existence of unions, make union organizing illegal or prohibit collective bargaining, particularly collective bargaining that’s  required by law in certain circumstances . “Right to work” laws don’t place any limit upon anybody’s right to join any labor organization of their own choosing or impinge in any way upon any of the laws protecting that right. Instead, “right to work” laws ensure that workers cannot be forced to join a union or to be forced to pay the equivalent of dues to a union in order to get or keep a job.

The straightforward principle of “right to work” is aimed at protecting workers’ freedom of association. In New York and other states without right to work laws, nonunion employees are routinely forced to financially support unions they have no interest in joining or associating with, unions that often work against the interests of many such employees.

The corrupting influence of mandatory union membership or forced “agency”dues for non-union employees goes far beyond the negative impact on the employees. According to Mark Mix, another evil flows from the mandatory funding of the unions. Typically, union officials use their power to extract dues from union and nonunion workers to funnel large amounts of that fund into a political war chest to fund pro-union and generally liberal Democratic office holders and office seekers. A “right to work” law would end this coercive arrangement in New York by ensuring that no worker is forced to pay union dues or agency fees as a condition of obtaining or continuing their employment. 

The Mix column also cited several statistics showing the competitive advantage of “right to work” states compared to states that allow mandatory union membership or mandatory union agency fees in lieu of membership. Along with that, he showed that the average worker was making more in actual take home pay in the “right to work” states.

According to Mark Mix: “Right to Work states as a whole have long outperformed on job creation, compared to compulsory-unionism states. ***  And those numbers don’t tell the whole story. Not only are more jobs created in Right to Work states, employees’ paychecks go farther in states with protections against compulsory unionism.”  That’s why he concludes, ““From Indiana to Florida and Idaho to Texas, Right to Work laws have a proven track record of protecting employee freedom while encouraging economic growth. If a Big Labor stronghold like Michigan can see the light, New York certainly can too.”

Unfortunately, too many ostensibly conservative Republicans like State Senator Martin Golden are standing in the way. Union lobbyists and activists have generally backed the Democratic majority in the New York Assembly and the Republican majority in the State Senate. However, that may be changing; with that majority having slipped to the Dems in 2012, union support is increasingly likely to follow. 

State Senator Martin Golden (R-C) was hard pressed by his Democratic opponent Andrew Gounardes in 2012, because Gounardes  enjoyed significantly more union support than Golden’s prior Democrat challenger, Michael DiSanto.  As a result, Golden is likely to work even harder to hold onto the union support that he still has.  That support  principally comes from various politically active “associations” among the city’s and state’s uniformed services and other public sector employee unions, including teachers. 

It’s clear, that in order to get a real  conservative Republican 22nd S.D. vote for politically and economically necessary “right to work” laws for New York, it would mean replacing Martin Golden as the Republican candidate. He needs to be taken on by a true fiscal and philosophical conservative Republican. Sadly, such a challenger has not emerged from within the Brooklyn GOP for many years.