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w w w.in s i g h t o n m f g . c o m March 2015 • /INSIGHT ON MANUFACTURING | 21 — not just union members. It will be especially true in the building and construction trades. Most people don't understand the unions do the training and put people through apprenticeships for most of the people in the building and construction trades. eir contracts call for small amounts off of everyone's hourly wage to go into training centers and supporting apprenticeship so that there is a steady supply of skilled workers to be electricians, pipefitters, carpenters and operating engineers. So this law will have a detrimental effect on the union's ability to maintain and keep those training programs going. Also, safety programs are attached to that training. It will hurt and make what's already a tight supply of skilled workers even more so. In this whole right-to-work discussion, the people in favor of this law point to Michigan and Indiana, which passed right-to-work legislation within just the last year or two. But there hasn't been enough time and data collected to show if Michigan and Indiana are any better off than before. Oklahoma became a right-to-work state in 2001. Oklahoma has less jobs today than it did prior to 2001. I think that in comparisons between Wisconsin's wages and economy to Iowa's wages and economy, Iowa in most cases is going to come up on the short end. So once again the idea that simply making us a right-to-work state is this magic bullet that's going to prosper our economy is false. To be able to draw companies when they are looking to relocate, whether you're in a right-to-work state is usually way at the bottom of the list. North Dakota is a right-to-work state and they do have the lowest unemployment rate in the country — but that is purely based on booming oil production. A lot of things factor into how a state does economically — the fact that they're right-to-work or not right-to-work, isn't the magic bullet to prosper an economy. three-year period. Indiana's economic development agency has signed agreements with over 100 companies that specifically indicated to them that their status as a right-to-work state was a significant factor in their decision to invest in Indiana. ose 100 companies are bringing with them an estimated 10,000 jobs and more than $3 billion of private investment in their economy. I know opponents like to hold Oklahoma as an example of a right- to-work state that didn't have a great experience. But what they oen include in their data is the Great Recession that hit every state. For a comparatively small state, they had tremendous job growth — in fact, they've grown 111,000 jobs since 2010. Oklahoma sits here today with an unemployment rate of 4.2 percent, which is substantially below the national average of 5.7 percent. Although it's true that average wages in a right-to-work state are a little bit lower, the cost of living in a right-to- work state is substantially lower. What you find is that right-to-work states actually have higher disposable income than non-right-to-work states. ere are two common criticisms we hear about right-to-work from the unions. e first is that it's going to have an adverse impact on worker training in the construction industry. e reality is that union dues don't pay for worker training. In fact, the training programs are done by a completely separate corporate entity that does not share the same funding that the membership union does. e other thing that they oen say is, 'Well, it's just unfair that people would benefit from union representation and not have to pay for it.' e reality is that unions are not required to represent the members that don't pay dues. ey can have a contract that says we have an obligation to represent everybody, or they can write a contract that says we will only represent members who actually pay us dues. So the free rider problem is one of the union's own making. WESTPHAL c o n t i n u e d > MANLEY c o n t i n u e d > LOW MINIMUMS TO MILLIONS LOW MINIMUMS TO MILLIONS TAGS & LABELS TAGS & LABELS w w w . b a d g e r t a g . c o m Random Lake, WI 800-331-4863 s a l e s @ b a d g e r t a g . c o m GET STARTED WITH A FREE SAMPLE IDEA PACKET NOW. We can produce your custom tag or label in a quantity that meets your requirements. Whether you need a low minimum, millions, or something in-between. We offer personal service, deliver as promised, and will make certain you get tags and labels that perform best for the intended uses.