Table A1
Various categorizations of legal environment for collective bargaining, union coverage rates, and "right to work" status
| (1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | (7) | (8) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | Three-category favorableness of legal environment for public sector bargaining, 1996* | Three-category favorableness of legal environment for public sector bargaining, 2017 | Four-category favorableness of legal environment for private sector bargaining, 2017 | Explanation of difference between 1996 and 2017, if any | Union coverage rate, private sector, (12 months ending April 2017) | Union coverage rate, public sector, (12 months ending April 2017) | “Right to work” (1 = RTW; 0 = not RTW) | Union coverage level, private sector, (12 months ending April 2017) |
| Alabama | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 6.0% | 25.2% | 1 | 93,586 | |
| Alaska | Favorable | Favorable | Intermediate | The city of Anchorage passed a 2013 ordinance sharply restricting the scope of bargaining and eliminating public employee’s right to strike, though this law was subsequently overturned by voter referendum. | 10.3% | 47.5% | 0 | 22,582 |
| Arizona | Intermediate | Intermediate | Unfavorable | A “right to work” state which cut pension benefits; abolished civil service; outlawed project labor agreements; and adopted a “paycheck protection” law, though this was vetoed by the governor. | 2.7% | 21.7% | 1 | 64,502 |
| Arkansas | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 4.1% | 11.5% | 1 | 40,394 | |
| California | Favorable | Favorable | Favorable and Actionable | Democrats have controlled all three branches of government for at least the past four years | 9.9% | 56.8% | 0 | 1,327,964 |
| Colorado | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 6.9% | 29.0% | 0 | 143,693 | |
| Connecticut | Favorable | Favorable | Favorable | 10.1% | 70.8% | 0 | 138,421 | |
| Delaware | Favorable | Favorable | Favorable and Actionable | Democrats have controlled all three branches of government for at least the past four years | 8.1% | 43.5% | 0 | 28,534 |
| Florida | Favorable | Intermediate | Unfavorable | A right-to-work state which since 2011 has passed laws cutting public employee pension benefits, undermining seniority and tenure rights for school teachers and funding the growth of non-union charter and voucher schools, and whose House of Representatives in 2017 adopted a bill that would automatically decertify any public sector union whose dues-paying membership falls below 50% of the bargaining unit. | 3.3% | 27.6% | 1 | 239,146 |
| Georgia | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 3.7% | 13.1% | 1 | 134,773 | |
| Hawaii | Favorable | Favorable | Favorable and Actionable | Democrats have controlled all three branches of government for at least the past four years | 14.8% | 47.3% | 0 | 71,237 |
| Idaho | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 4.0% | 18.7% | 1 | 23,839 | |
| Illinois | Favorable | Intermediate | Intermediate | Democratic legislators adopted 2011 legislation restricting the scope of bargaining and the right to strike for Chicago school teachers. | 10.2% | 52.6% | 0 | 499,710 |
| Indiana | Intermediate | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Outlawed public sector collective bargaining; preempted local minimum wage increases; adopted “right to work” and eliminated prevailing wage rights. | 8.1% | 33.5% | 1 | 212,840 |
| Iowa | Favorable | Favorable | Unfavorable | Exacted legislation in 2017 similar to Wisconsin’s Act 10 (note, our data only go through April 2017, so we are not including this change in the middle column, since that column should reflect state of the laws when the data were collected). | 5.6% | 33.8% | 1 | 68,819 |
| Kansas | Intermediate | Intermediate | Unfavorable | Restricted the scope of bargaining for school teachers and funded non-union voucher schools; eliminated both prevailing wage rights and project labor agreements; and adopted an aggressive “paycheck protection” statute. | 6.5% | 26.6% | 1 | 68,577 |
| Kentucky | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 11.4% | 23.8% | 1 | 169,990 | |
| Louisiana | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 3.1% | 16.9% | 1 | 45,052 | |
| Maine | Favorable | Intermediate | Intermediate | Abolished collective bargaining rights for childcare workers and farmworkers, cut pension benefits and imposed a multi-year wage freeze for public employees. | 5.6% | 60.0% | 0 | 27,191 |
| Maryland | Favorable | Favorable | Favorable | 6.8% | 33.1% | 0 | 143,040 | |
| Massachusetts | Favorable | Favorable | Favorable and Actionable | 6.3% | 53.3% | 0 | 176,949 | |
| Michigan | Favorable | Intermediate | Unfavorable | Abolished fair-share in both the public and private sector, prohibited payroll deduction of union dues, cut healthcare and retiree benefits, outlawed project labor agreements, restricted teachers’ scope of bargaining, abolished collective bargaining rights for graduate researchers and prohibited cities and counties from adopting any labor standards more progressive than state law. | 11.3% | 49.9% | 1 | 415,432 |
| Minnesota | Favorable | Favorable | Intermediate | Legislature voted to freeze public employee pay and to restrict the scope of bargaining and eliminate the right to strike of school teachers, though both statutes were vetoed by the governor. | 9.2% | 49.0% | 0 | 200,736 |
| Mississippi | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 6.1% | 14.2% | 1 | 53,889 | |
| Missouri | Intermediate | Intermediate | Unfavorable | Eliminated prevailing wage rights and adopted both a “right to work” and a “paycheck protection” law. | 7.6% | 24.4% | 1 | 177,092 |
| Montana | Favorable | Favorable | Intermediate | Cut pension benefits and whose legislators voted to abolish defined benefit pensions for school teachers, though this law was vetoed by the governor. | 7.5% | 38.6% | 0 | 24,829 |
| Nebraska | Favorable | Favorable | Unfavorable | A “right to work” state. In 2011 passed a law that changes the way contract disputes are settled under the state’s labor commission, in ways that favor the employer. So that was a downgrading of public sector collective bargaining rights, but relatively mild compared to places like Wisconsin. | 4.6% | 36.2% | 1 | 33,505 |
| Nevada | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 10.4% | 36.3% | 1 | 111,305 | |
| New Hampshire | Favorable | Intermediate | Unfavorable | Took away the right to card-check recognition for public employees, abolished the state minimum wage, undermined teacher seniority and tenure protections, and both legislative chambers adopted a 2011 “right to work” law, though this was ultimately vetoed by the governor. | 4.3% | 54.0% | 0 | 24,483 |
| New Jersey | Favorable | Intermediate | Unfavorable | Cut pension benefits, restricted the scope of arbitration for uniformed services, undermined teachers’ tenure and seniority protections, and instituted a four-year ban on healthcare bargaining. | 8.3% | 59.5% | 0 | 273,716 |
| New Mexico | Favorable | Favorable | Favorable | 3.4% | 22.9% | 0 | 20,173 | |
| New York | Favorable | Favorable | Favorable and Actionable | Democrats have controlled all three branches of government for at least the past four years | 16.6% | 70.4% | 0 | 1,140,638 |
| North Carolina | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 2.6% | 14.2% | 1 | 94,559 | |
| North Dakota | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 4.3% | 18.3% | 1 | 12,826 | |
| Ohio | Favorable | Favorable | Unfavorable | Passed an Act 10-copycat bill in 2011, SB5. SB5 was subsequently overturned by referendum, but its adoption by the state’s legislature and Governor indicate a hostile environment for labor law reform. | 8.8% | 47.4% | 0 | 383,424 |
| Oklahoma | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 3.7% | 18.9% | 1 | 43,786 | |
| Oregon | Favorable | Favorable | Favorable and Actionable | Democrats have controlled all three branches of government for at least the past four years | 9.9% | 57.3% | 0 | 147,066 |
| Pennsylvania | Favorable | Intermediate | Unfavorable | Abolished prevailing wage rights on projects under $100,000 and created an “emergency fiscal manager” with the authority to void union contracts in the city of Harrisburg | 7.9% | 54.5% | 0 | 396,970 |
| Rhode Island | Favorable | Favorable | Favorable and Actionable | Democrats have controlled all three branches of government for at least the past four years | 9.3% | 67.1% | 0 | 39,214 |
| South Carolina | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 2.1% | 8.6% | 1 | 35,372 | |
| South Dakota | Favorable | Favorable | Unfavorable | A “right to work” state which prohibited project labor agreements, created a new youth subminimum wage and entirely exempted its summer tourism industry from the state minimum wage, and abolished teacher tenure, though this last measure was subsequently overturned by voter referendum. | 3.6% | 24.3% | 1 | 11,507 |
| Tennessee | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 4.0% | 18.8% | 1 | 92,148 | |
| Texas | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 3.2% | 19.0% | 1 | 317,703 | |
| Utah | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 3.0% | 20.2% | 1 | 34,186 | |
| Vermont | Favorable | Favorable | Favorable | 6.0% | 52.3% | 0 | 14,908 | |
| Virginia | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 4.0% | 16.7% | 1 | 119,994 | |
| Washington | Favorable | Favorable | Favorable and Actionable | 11.7% | 58.9% | 0 | 303,980 | |
| West Virginia | Intermediate | Intermediate | Unfavorable | Prohibited Project Labor Agreements and adopted a “right to work” law. | 9.1% | 27.9% | 1 | 50,549 |
| Wisconsin | Favorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | With the passage of Act 10 in 2011, has become one of the single bleakest legal environments for public employee unions. | 6.5% | 27.7% | 1 | 153,273 |
| Wyoming | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | Unfavorable | 4.5% | 12.3% | 1 | 8,343 |
Source: Freeman (2006) "Will Labor Fare Better Under State Labor Relations Law?" Based on 1996 update by Kim Rueben of the NBER Valletta-Freeman state public sector labor law data set (http://www.nber.org/publaw/)
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