Right to work states, a letter to the editor

Found this while I was setting up a google Newsfeed that would display google News headlines on "injured workers" onto my website

It's a letter to the editor at the Battle Creek Enquirer

The author Tom Cook brings up some startling facts, here it is in it's entirety

Don't support right to work laws

The right-wing radicals are pushing hard for a so-called "right to work" law which may better be called "a right to work for less law."

Right to work laws don't work. The Department of Labor tells us that in right to work states, the average annual pay is $38,492 while in free bargaining states it is $45,082, and those living in free bargaining states enjoy an annual per capita income over 14 percent more than in right to work states.

In right to work states the poverty rates are higher than free bargaining states, while the same is true for infant mortality rates. If a person is unemployed and lives in a right to work state, you will find, according to the Department of Labor, that right to work states benefits are well below those of free bargaining states. You will also find that an injured worker will receive $162 less per week in a right to work state than in a free bargaining state, and you will find that the job fatality rate is 54 percent higher in the right to work states.

Educationally, right to work states invest less in our kids than free bargaining states and have a higher dropout rate. Right to work states' health rankings are well below the national average while free bargaining states are well above that average. Right to work states are above the national average for those lacking health insurance.

Finally, ask your state representative and senatorial candidates where they stand on right to work laws and say no to those who support them.

Tom Cook, Marshall