Dear editor,

In the Bluegrass State, it has been clear since outspoken forced-unionism foe Matt Bevin (R) captured the governorship in 2015 that the sole roadblock to a law protecting the employee’s freedom to join and financially support a union, or refuse to do either, was the state House of Representatives.

The Kentucky Senate has already gone on the record in support of a state law curtailing Big Labor’s forced-unionism privileges. Gov. Bevin has said again and again he would gladly sign a Right to Work law. Therefore, throughout the 2016 legislative session it was up to Democrat House Speaker Greg Stumbo (Prestonsburg) and his allies to stop Right to Work measures.

But last November 8, Kentucky voters ousted Mr. Stumbo, and his caucus shriveled, from holding a majority of House seats to holding barely more than a third.

Because of the resounding defeat suffered by union bosses at the polls on Election Day, even hardened Right to Work foes now admit legislation banning the termination of employees for refusal to pay dues or fees to an unwanted union, is likely to become law early this year.  Indeed, a Kentucky ban on forced Big Labor financial support may have already been adopted by the time this edition of Exposed reaches its readers.

Once Kentucky becomes a Right to Work state, what will it mean for Bluegrass State employees? The most important thing is that they will be free to refuse — without risking their jobs — to pay for union-boss services they don’t want and never asked for.  But what effect will Right to Work have on their earnings?

History indicates that wages will rise in Right to Work Kentucky.  From the beginning of 2012 through the end of last year, four states banned compulsory union dues, and in two of these states — Indiana and Missouri — unionism has now been voluntary for at least three years.  What has happened to workers’ wages in these two states?

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data, the average weekly earnings for Indiana private-sector employees in March 2012 — the month the Hoosier State’s Right to Work law took effect, — were $732.48.  In November 2016, the most recent month for which data are now available, the BLS estimates that the average weekly earnings of Indiana private-sector employees were $834.75.

In a little more than four-and-a-half years, weekly earnings per private worker in Indiana have risen by 14.0%, or 8.3% after adjusting for inflation as measured by the BLS urban consumer price index. That’s well over double the 3.2% increase in real weekly earnings for comparable Kentucky employees over the same period.

The BLS data for Michigan, whose Right to Work law took effect in March 2013, tell a very similar story.  From March 2013 through November 2016, real weekly earnings per private-sector employee in Michigan went up by 5.3%, while they went up by 3.6% over the same period for Kentucky workers.

Since the 25th and 26th state Right to Work laws, adopted in Wisconsin in early 2015 and in West Virginia early last year, have only been in effect a very short time, it is too early to draw firm conclusions from the BLS data for these states. But it is worth pointing out that, so far, private-sector weekly earnings growth is also outpacing inflation in Wisconsin and West Virginia since they became Right to Work.

Since the data uniformly show workers’ real earnings going up in states that have passed Right to Work laws in recent years, how can Kentucky AFL-CIO czar Bill Londrigan dare to claim — as he did in a late December interview for the Bluegrass State cable news show Pure Politics — that the “effect” of prohibiting forced union dues is the lowering of wages for all workers?

The obvious answer is that Big Labor bosses like Mr. Londrigan are trampling the truth to preserve their special privileges. Ordinary Kentucky citizens who know in their hearts that forced unionism is just plain wrong should simply ignore what Mr. Londrigan, other union officials and spokesmen for union front organizations have to say about the Right to Work and worker pay.  It has no basis in reality.

Mark Mix,

President of the National Right to Work Committee

Correction: The author of the letter to the editor was Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Committee, not Caleb M. Young.

Correction: History indicates that wages will rise in Right to Work Kentucky.  From the beginning of 2012 through the end of last year, four states banned compulsory union dues, and in two of these states — Indiana and Michigan — unionism has now been voluntary for at least three years. What has happened to workers’ wages in these two states?