WHILE A SMALL MAJORITY OF AMERICANS FAVOR UNIONS, A MUCH LARGER MAJORITY WOULD VOTE FOR A RIGHT-TO-WORK LAW

An interesting and recent Gallup poll conducted in August shows how the American public feels about labor unions, and also about right-to-work (RTW) laws. The poll shows that 53% of Americans approve of labor unions, a figure similar to other union ratings in recent years. The record low approval rating for unions was 48% in 2009.

In contrast, the poll revealed that 71% of Americans would vote for a RTW law if they had the opportunity. Even among Democrats in the poll (who gave unions a 77% approval rating), 65% of the Democrats backed RTW or open shop laws. The poll results among Democrats are interesting in that even though two-thirds of Democrats favor RTW laws, the Democratic Party has been opposed to such laws.

The last time a Gallup poll asked about the opinion of Americans concerning RTW laws was 1957, when the enactment of RTW legislation had only a 62% approval rating, and it was in 1957 that unions received their highest approval rating ever, 75%. In another aspect of the recent Gallup poll, about 35% of respondents said they would like to see labor unions have more influence, while 37% said they would like unions to have less influence.

Currently, 24 states have RTW laws, which give workers the right to not join unions as a condition of employment. A recent study conducted by the Competitive Enterprise Institute addresses an economic analysis of RTW laws on state economies, and ranked states' per capita income loss for not having a RTW law. The study suggests that if non-RTW law states had adopted RTW laws 35 years ago, income levels would be approximately $3,000.00 per person higher today. The total estimated income loss in 2012, according to the study, from the lack of RTW laws was $647.8 billion – more than $2,000.00 for every American.