Union brother who lived in RTW state tells it like it is
As the Labor Tribune reported recently, the dark money groups pushing so-called “right-to-work” (RTW) have launched another massive, expensive, direct-mail campaign loaded with lies to try and convince the public that there is some redeeming value to this anti-union, anti-worker law.
To be clear, there is absolutely nothing redeeming about “right-to-work.”
But that’s hasn’t stopped the big business, dark money backers (both in and out of Missouri) from pouring millions into advertising and political donations to influence next November’s vote on the RTW repeal effort.
REPEAT A LIE OFTEN ENOUGH…
Their goal is to repeat the lies often enough that anyone not understanding the issue will begin to believe their lies as the truth, and vote against their own interests by voting to force RTW on Missouri’s entire workforce in next year’s election.
As part of the right-wing’s community distortion efforts, their public mouthpiece, National Right To Work Committee President Mark Mix, has begun to flood Missouri newspapers with “Opinion” pieces trying to give credence to their lies. After all, many people believe if they read something in print or see it on the Internet, it must be true. WRONG (except, of course, in the Labor Tribune).
Two such distorted, lie-filled opinion pieces have appeared recently in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. We can expect more.
TELLING IT LIKE IT IS
But astute reader Robert Goodrich, of Belleville, a 42-year United Media Guild member and retired Post-Dispatch reporter, knows fact from fiction first-hand — he lived and worked in RTW states — and was quick to expose the lies in a blistering Letter to the Editor, dissecting Mix’s lies about “Big Labor spending millions on ‘lies and distortions’ with a serving of truth about the money corporate bosses and their lackeys spend to buy political influence and distort the facts about RTW at the expense of their customers, shareholders and workers.
Brother Goodrich then asks the pertinent question:
“Why the desperate effort to keep grass-roots Missourians from voting on this issue?”
Why indeed.
See Brother Goodrich’s letter below. It’s worth your time to read because it comes from someone who has personally experienced the truth about RTW – it’s BAD for workers, ALL workers, period.
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Union leaders are elected, corporate bosses aren’t
By ROBERT GOODRICH
United Media Guild, retired
On Labor Day, my wife and I both gave thanks that we had decent union jobs that lifted us into the middle class. That enabled us to retire over a decade ago with enough financial security to shift our focus to serving our church and community, to our grandchildren, even a bit of travel. It’s a good life.
It shocks us to read stuff like “Missouri union bosses double down on forced union dues” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sept. 5) by Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Committee.
We elect our union leaders. Corporate bosses, not so much. I don’t know how much Mix is paid to insinuate that unions are corrupt, as if corporate bosses were all squeaky clean, with workers’ best interests at heart.
Mix cites statistics he says show people in “right-to-work” states are better off. My wife and I both grew up in “right-to-work” states. We know how much workers like us are paid in those states, and how they’re treated. If we had spent our careers there, we would still be working today, in our 70s, to keep bread on the table.
Mix says union officials extract dues for political use. No one in the U.S. can be forced to join a union or contribute to any campaign. Workers may be required to pay a fee for work the union does for them because the union is required to do so by federal law. But in “right-to-work” states they can ride free.
Mix talks about Big Labor spending millions on “lies and distortions.” But he knows that political spending by corporate bosses and their lackeys dwarfs that spent by unions. The money corporate interests spend for politicking is extracted from customers and shareholders, and often from paying their workers the bare minimum.
And why the desperate effort to keep grass-roots Missourians from voting on this issue?
(This item was originally published as a Letter to the Editor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
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