Media clips
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Imagine, however, that the government instead decided to use its prodding power to improve the lives and incomes of truck drivers. Officials could, for example, do more to crack down on companies that misclassify employees as contractors to avoid paying for expenses and guaranteeing a minimum wage. The government also ought to require that trucking companies and freight customers compensate drivers for every hour of work, including the hours spent picking up and dropping off loads. What’s more, Congress could pass a law making clear that regardless of how the industry pays drivers — whether on a per-hour or a per-mile basis — drivers are entitled to earn minimum wage and overtime for all of the hours they put in.
The New York Times August 13, 2018 -
Unions call the laws the “right to work for less,” a knock backed up by research. The Economic Policy Institute, for one, says wages drop by 3.1 percent in right-to-work states. Weaker unions also mean weaker protections for all workers, union or not.
Chicago Sun Times August 13, 2018 -
The Economic Policy Institute, a think tank that studies conditions for low- and middle-class Americans, listed Charlottesville is in the fifteenth most unequal county in the U.S. in a 2018 study.
Mic August 13, 2018 -
According to the Economic Policy Institute, wages go down by 3.1% in right-to-work states. And it’s not just about wages: These laws kneecap working-class power, and in doing so, stack the odds in favor of those wealthy few who want to privatize our schools, cut taxes for the rich and further mangle our health care. Plus, declines in union membership compound racial and gender inequality. It’s no wonder that when people are asked what they want, they choose better pay and better jobs.
CNN August 10, 2018 -
But these tailwinds aren’t nearly enough to blow wage growth back on course given the deeper — and older — problems facing the economy. An analysis by the Economic Policy Institute finds that the textbook relationship between productivity gains — that is, how efficient workers are — and wages broke down way back in 1973. Since then, productivity has risen nearly 74 percent while real hourly pay has risen just 13 percent. That gap helps explain why corporate profits have soared while wealth inequality has worsened. Simply, workers are producing more but capturing less of the resulting profits. The solution? EPI wants the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates low, prioritizing job-creation over tamping down inflation, until annualized wage growth hits at least 3.5 percent. Other wage boosters, according to the liberal-leaning think tank: greater investment in rebuilding America’s decrepit roads, bridges and other infrastructure; lowering the U.S. trade deficit with other countries; and giving companies tax incentives to offer pay raises (such as by linking CEO bonuses to wage increases).
CBS Moneywatch August 10, 2018 -
There are also myths around the reasons for black women’s pay gap, which don’t hold up under scrutiny, either, and which have been debunked by the Economic Policy Institute. One of the most pervasive is that education could narrow the pay gap for black women. However, black women make less than men at every level of education, even when working the same jobs as men, the research shows. Not to mention that as of 2016, black women were the most educated demographic in the U.S.
CIO August 10, 2018 -
Right-to-work laws, which are now in place in 27 states, have been branded as such because Republicans have successfully framed this issue as one of giving workers the right to not belong to a union. Backers of these laws also argue that they help states attract businesses and create jobs. In practice, the measures undercut labor power and have done little to create good-paying jobs. They have contributed to the steady, decades-long decline in union membership — less than 11 percent of workers were union members in 2017, down from about a third of workers in 1945. That decline has played a big part in depressing wages, even in industries and companies that had never had a significant union presence. That’s because union contracts often serve as a benchmark for pay and working conditions. A 2015 analysis by the Economic Policy Institute found that annual wages in right-to-work states were about 3 percent, or nearly $1,600, lower than in states that didn’t have such laws.
The New York Times August 9, 2018 -
“These laws are sold with the same rationale used to keep minimum wages down,” Heidi Shierholz, policy director at the Economic Policy Institute, tells Rolling Stone. “The corporations and lawmakers say, ‘These institutions are all hamstringing our economy. If we unwind these things, we’re going to unleash growth. Everyone will be better off.’” What happens instead, as EPI and others have exhaustively documented, is the exact opposite: Wages drop, unions are starved and “you actually reduce the economic activity in the state,” says Shierholz. “When you have middle-class people making less money, they’re paying less taxes, and they’re spending less. Higher unionization helps the entire fiscal situation in a state.”
Rolling Stone August 9, 2018 -
Designed to undermine the ability of unions to organize workers, to collectively bargain and to engage in politics on behalf of economic and social justice, right-to-work measures are really “right-to-work-for-less” laws. According to the Economic Policy Institute, “These bills won’t lead to more manufacturing plants or better jobs or anything good. They lead only to weaker unions, less bargaining power for [workers], and lower wages. Wages are 3.1 percent lower in so-called ‘right to work’ (RTW) states, for union and nonunion workers alike—after correctly accounting for differences in cost of living, demographics, and labor market characteristics. The negative impact of RTW laws translates to $1,558 less a year in earnings for a typical full-time worker.”
The Nation August 9, 2018 -
These laws, which have been adopted in 27 states, leave private-sector unions with less financial resources for collective bargaining, limit their power, and tend to be favored by conservative legislators. A 2015 study from the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C., found that wages in right-to-work states tended to lag 3.1% behind pay in states where unions can collect dues from all employees.
Fast Company August 9, 2018