12-07-2012, 12:01 PM
(12-07-2012, 04:04 AM)thekid65 Wrote: I-dee-ho is a Right to Work state. I've got a bit to say on this subject, as I despise unions, but am limited on time at the moment.
As The Terminator says "I'll be back".
See you then. It'll be interesting to get some first-hand perspective.
I've been reading up on how RTW legislation has affected the states which have adopted it. Some interesting statistics from the Economic Policy Institute for Right to Work (RTW) states vs. Collective Bargaining (CB) states.
In RTW states:
-Pay rates average 3.2% less
-Health care cost averages 2.6% less
-Pensions average 4.6% less
-Unemployment as of mid 2012 was 6.9% in RTW states and 7.5% in CB states.
So, you've got lower costs for businesses, lower pay and health + retirement benefits for employees, and more people working on average in RTW states vs. CB states, as would be expected.
The rate of growth in private sector employees for RTW states was double that of CB states and the patent rate was triple that of CB states from 1995-2005 (source: American Legislative Exchange Council) . I expected the numbers to be higher in RTW states, but not that much higher.
Given all of these factors plus the new health care mandates and the current economic crisis, it's only gonna get harder for CB states to maintain existing businesses and attract new ones, imo. I'm curious as to whether Indiana and Michigan's lead will result in a series of RTW acts being proposed and pushed through other Midwestern states and eventually start to gain consideration/support of Governors across the rest of the country.
Current RTW states:
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana,
Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada,
North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming