The Right to Work / Organized Labor

Georgia is a proud Right to Work state.  Our right to a secret ballot is as constitutionally protected as freedom of speech or the freedom to own a firearm.  America’s labor unions want to abolish the secret ballot in union elections because they simply often cannot win with the secret ballot.  They want to change the rules to change the potential outcome. Pending legislation in Congress, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), would substantially strengthen the hand of labor unions to organize companies and work forces of businesses large and small.  It should be noted that the largest segment of the U.S. economy which is currently Unionized are federal, state and local government employees.  This has given us models of efficiency such as Amtrak, the U.S. Postal Service and the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization.

The track record of labor unions regarding intimidation and threats to non-union supporters is lengthy and well documented.  The relative weakness of labor unions in Georgia has been a key factor in our economic strength and successes for more than two generations.  A recent case in point was the increased unionization of film and video production in the late 1990s in Georgia.  That change almost killed film and television series production here, and cost the state several network series…due to the increased costs of labor and production.  Now, nearly a decade later, a much less union work force, with just as much talent as their union-brethren, are again attracting millions in investment and hundreds of temporary and permanent jobs to production centers run by Tyler Perry, Turner Productions and other studios and independent film producers.

My mother is a retired Georgia school teacher but not a member of the Georgia Association of Educators (GAE), and my sister is a nurse but never joined any healthcare unions.  They have both witnessed up close the pressure to join unions, pay dues and support organizations which they do not believe in.  Though I am glad they had the strength to make their own choice, I do not want to make things any harder on thousands of Georgia teachers and health care professionals who share the same opinion.