I have a different perspective on the concept of labor unions and right to work laws than many who may write about this. I have never had a union job, nor have I ever been in a position of hiring an employee.
Up until I was drafted at the age of 20 I had done mostly menial jobs. This included a reasonable amount of farm work that was often sub-minimum wage and some that were piece rate. After the army I had some short term jobs (via day labor agencies) before I started going to school full time and a couple of short term jobs during school. Then I got my first job in IT.
From that point on my salary was the result of a direct negotiation with my employers. That continued until I began doing contract work, which I continue to do to this day. I went the contract direction because it was a way to increase my salary without having to go into management. I have never had the desire to be a manager. I like inventing things, not telling people what to do.
My take on right to work laws is actually very simple. Labor is a commodity, in the same way the product I deliver under contract is a commodity. So if a law states that you may not have an exclusive arrangement with a union to supply specific commodities (job specialties), then how is that different from saying that Ford may not enter into an exclusive arrangement to supply rear bumpers for F150s?
Requiring that certain classes of positions are filled with union members is no different than any other exclusive contract. And the law should view them the same way.
