Opinion: Celebrate the freedom and prosperity of Utah’s Right to Work law on Labor Day

Happy Labor Day! This year, residents of Utah have much more to celebrate than a three-day weekend. That’s because Utah is one of 26 Right to Work states.

Right to Work laws are commonsense and straightforward, not to mention extremely popular.

Under Right to Work, no employee can be forced to join or pay dues or fees to a union as a condition of employment. This leaves the decision of union membership and financial support where it belongs: with each and every individual worker.

Polls consistently show that 8 in 10 Americans believe all workers should have Right to Work freedoms. Just recently, a poll conducted by Rasmussen, formally known as RMG Research, found that not only do 82% of all registered voters believe union membership and dues payment should be voluntary, but 79% of current union members agree.

The good news is most employees already do enjoy Right to Work protections.

In addition to those covered by 26 state Right to Work laws, every public sector employee across the country now enjoys Right to Work protections under the First Amendment. This is the result of the 2018 National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation-won Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision that ruled that the First Amendment protects government employees from being required to fund union activities.

Right to Work protects each worker’s freedom of choice, but the advantages of Right to Work hardly stop there. Workplace freedom also boosts the economy of the 26 states that have Right to Work laws on the books.

Over the past decade (2013-2023), Department of Labor statistics show employment in Right to Work states grew nearly twice as fast as forced-unionism states. Further, over the same decade, manufacturing payroll jobs in Right to Work states grew by 12.3%, compared to the meager 2.5% in forced-unionism states, according to an analysis of federal government statistics compiled by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research .

Additionally, the recently released NILRR analysis found that after adjusting for the cost of living, people in Right to Work states have roughly $2,800 more per-capita disposable income than their counterparts in forced-unionism states.

The connection between Right to Work laws and better economic performance is not a surprise. Business experts consistently rank the presence of Right to Work laws as one of the most important factors companies consider when deciding where to expand or relocate their plants and facilities, where they will create new jobs and new opportunities.

Right to Work laws also encourage more flexible and responsive union officials in the workplace. When workers cannot simply be forced to pay dues under threat of termination, union brass must work harder to retain employee support. This incentivizes union officials to put workers’ interests first, rather than promoting their own power or pushing an agenda that is out of step with the rank-and-file.

Right to Work laws make economic sense, but protecting employee freedom has always been their most important feature. No worker should be forced to join or pay money to an organization he or she has no interest in supporting.

Right to Work laws do nothing to impede employees from voluntarily joining or paying dues to a union; they simply ensure that no worker can be forced to hand over a portion of their hard-earned paycheck to union officials just to keep a job.

After all, why shouldn’t union officials play by the same rules as every other private organization in the country? Churches, civic associations and thousands of other private organizations across the country thrive on the voluntary support of those who are free to choose. Unions — made up of individual workers who freely choose to band together — can and should do the same.

So this Labor Day, celebrate the fact that Utah safeguards the right of workers to choose to support — or not to support — a labor union, and in doing so creates more freedom and prosperity for all.

Mark Mix is the president of the National Right to Work Committee and National Right to Work Foundation.