The Wall Street Journal defends R2W: “Right-to-work laws make states more economically competitive, but the bigger issue is about individual rights. Workers should have the right to join a union but also the right not to. Indiana and other states with new Republican majorities have a rare opportunity to pass a major reform that will reduce union power, help to attract new jobs, and liberate workers from union coercion.” See full piece here: http://dailyscroogealert.blogspot.com/2011/02/from-wall-street-journal-2211-giving.html

New Hampshire

Right-to-work bill wrong for our state
Nashua Telegraph
As a worker in the state of New Hampshire, I strongly oppose the passage of HB 474, which is being referred to as the “Right to Work” bill. ...

Indiana

Real incomes higher in Right to Work states - The Shelbyville News
... Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin) or in the Hoosier state alone. ... But in debating the Right to Work issue, union officials and their ...

Indiana Chamber of Commerce | Union Response to Right-to-Work ...
Union Response to Right-to-Work Research Based on Emotion, Not Facts Monday, January 31, 2011 (INDIANAPOLIS) -- The response offered today by Indiana State ..

Ohio

Ohio House of Representatives approves Gov. John Kasich's plan for JobsOhio, privatized version of Department of Development

By Joe Guillen, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
The Ohio House of Representatives on Tuesday approved Republican Gov. John Kasich's JobsOhio plan to privatize the Department of Development to attract more jobs to Ohio.

Kasich to business -- Door is open

By David Holthaus, The Cincinnati Enquirer
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, three weeks in office, brought his brand of straight-talk governing to Cincinnati on Tuesday, urging an invitation-only group of business leaders to let him know what they want.

Findlay battery plant project has tax break, no financing

By Larry P. Vellequette, Toledo Blade
A Perrysburg solar-industry startup granted tax credits by the state Monday to help it create up to 446 new jobs in Findlay does not have any financing in place to bring the $148.6 million project to fruition.

Wisconsin

Walker targeting state worker benefits

By The Associated Press, Wisconsin State Journal (Madison)
Gov. Scott Walker promised to target public employee benefits and Medicaid programs in order to deal with Wisconsin's budget shortfall, but offered few details in his first State of the State speech on Tuesday about how he will plug the $3.2 billion gap

Florida

FL: Scott -- Workers must pay own way for a pension
Gov. Rick Scott is proposing to overhaul the state's pension system for tens of thousands of teachers, police officers and other state and county workers by requiring them to contribute to their retirement accounts and by not offering the pension plan to new workers.

North Carolina

Democratic National Convention 2012 To Be Held In Charlotte, N.C.
ABC News (blog)
Critics have pointed out that North Carolina is a right-to-work state and its hotel workers are not unionized. The Republican convention will take place in ...

NC unions welcome DNC to "Right to Work" state/city for convention ...
On MSNBC this afternoon, Andrea Mitchell actually asked DNC Chair Tim Kaine why the party chose the home state of Bank of America and a right-to-work state, asking Kaine, “I defy you to find a labor hotel for these delegates, ... BlueNC - Where North Carolina... - http://www.bluenc.com/

Virginia

Choices That Attract Business and Industry
Martinsville Daily
The first was HJ500, the introduction of a constitutional amendment to declare Virginia as a “right to work” state. Why is that important enough to actually ...

From Wall Street Journal, 2/2/11 (Original article here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704698004576104573614702298.html?mod=googlenews_wsj)

Giving Workers a Union Choice: More states consider right-to-work laws.

One of the under-appreciated fault lines in the U.S. economy is between the 22 "right-to-work" states and the rest of the country. The former have tended to do much better economically. Now some non-right-to-work states such as Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan are thinking about joining this club that allows workers to opt-out of union membership.

Contrary to much union rhetoric, right-to-work laws don't ban or bust unions. They simply grant individual workers the right to join or not to join, even once a workplace is organized by a union. Workers who decline to join the union can't be forced to have dues taken out of their paycheck and thus used to finance union political campaigns. Most right-to-work states are in the South and West, and only Oklahoma has adopted this freedom to choose in the last 20 years.

Right-to-work states outperform forced-union states in almost every measurable category of worker well-being. A new study in the Cato Journal by economist Richard Vedder finds that from 2000 to 2008 some 4.7 million Americans moved from forced-union to right-to-work states.

The study also found that from 1977 through 2007 there was "a very strong and highly statistically significant relationship between right-to-work laws and economic growth." Right-to-work states experienced a 23% faster rise in per capita income over that period. The two regions that have lost the most jobs in recent years, the once-industrial Northeast and Midwest, are mostly forced-union states.

Indiana is a case study in the negative effects of forced unionism. Governor Mitch Daniels recently explained why his state lost a bid for a new Colgate factory that would have employed hundreds: "We did absolutely everything we could do. . . . We made an offer we believe was competitive in every other respect, but they [Colgate] want to be in a right-to-work state."

Mr. Daniels adds that the lack of a right-to-work law "does hold us back economically. There is no doubt about it." He estimates that when competing with Southern states for businesses, "a very large number—perhaps as many as a quarter—of the deals we don't get a shot at are for just this reason."

This damage has motivated Indiana Republicans, who now control both legislature chambers, to announce that they want to pass a right-to-work law. Unions immediately went to Defcon 1, Democrats are up in arms, and Republicans could yet buckle under this union pressure. Even Mr. Daniels, who has stood up to union opposition in the past, seems hesitant. He told the Indianapolis Star that right to work "may be worth a look," but he added it "is not on my agenda." He's worried that the issue so antagonizes unions that it could derail the rest of his legislative agenda.

We hope Republicans don't flinch. Right-to-work laws make states more economically competitive, but the bigger issue is about individual rights. Workers should have the right to join a union but also the right not to. Indiana and other states with new Republican majorities have a rare opportunity to pass a major reform that will reduce union power, help to attract new jobs, and liberate workers from union coercion.