Prop A is a loser for workers, stresses former Vice President Joe Biden

Missouri Chamber claims RTW neighbors faring  better; facts say it’s not true

By ED FINKELSTEIN
Publisher

“If union workers don’t make a fair wage, every other worker loses,” former Vice President Joe Biden told the Labor Tribune during a July 25 visit to St. Louis. “We fought hard to keep (‘right-to-work’) out of Delaware. It’s not in the best interests of workers,” he stressed with the familiar Biden conviction that has won him the admiration of working men and women across America.

His statement rings true, and once again exposes the lie of distorted comments by the Missouri Chamber of Commerce alleging “right-to-work” (RTW) states do better than non-RTW states. They don’t.

Looking at Missouri’s neighboring RTW states – Iowa, Kansas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Kentucky and Nebraska – Missouri, without RTW, is doing better.

DATA DRIVEN TRUTHS

The July 26 Special Edition of Labor Tribune, examined the WORST and the BEST of all 50 states in many categories using research from WalletHub, U.S. News & World Report, official government data and other and other nonpartisan sources – exposing Prop A (RTW) for the fraud it is.

This update to our series “Why Vote NO on Prop A,” looks at the same data in eight key categories comparing where our seven RTW neighbors rank in the WORST and BEST states ranking of all 50 states. (Illinois is excluded because it remains a free-bargaining state).

In six of the eight categories, the majority of RTW states rank in the WORST state grouping, providing yet more reasons why Missourians should Vote NO on Prop A on Tuesday, Aug. 7:

SERIES PURPOSE

This exclusive 15-part Labor Tribune series has been designed to offer our readers a clear understanding of how a RTW law impacts issues important to workers’ lives, jobs, health and quality of life. None of the studies show any advantage to RTW states.

METHODOLOGY

WalletHub and U.S. News & World Report looked at all 50 states in a variety of categories, utilizing official government data and other and other nonpartisan sources, to develop the rankings referenced in this series. Neither WalletHub nor U.S. News & World Report attempted to draw a comparison between RTW and non-RTW states. The Labor Tribune overlaid RTW and non-RTW states on the Best and Worst state rankings to reach the conclusions reported in this series.

In this wrap-up story, we look only at Missouri’s RTW neighboring states.

WalletHub’s state rankings and other studies are frequently referenced in Bloomberg News, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, USA Today, Forbes, Yahoo, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and The New York Times.

U.S. News & World report publishes news, opinion, consumer advice, rankings, and analysis frequently referenced by other news outlets.

SOURCES

Sources for the data included the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Census Bureau and more than three dozen different government and public groups.