Here are just the facts on the r

Here are just the facts on the right to work issue

"Right to work. . . provides no 'rights' and no 'work.' . . . Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining."

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Were Dragnet mainstay Sgt. Joe Friday to show up to talk to me about right to work in Michigan, the first thing he might say is, "Just the facts, ma'am."

So let us put aside rhetoric. Let us stay away from opinion and prejudice. Let us talk about the facts that can be verified by sources, mainly the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Here are some of them:

	The average worker in a right to work state makes about $5,333 a year less than a worker in other states ($35,500 compared with $30,167). Weekly wages are $72 greater in free-bargaining states than in right to work states ($621 versus $549).
	Twenty-one percent more people lack health insurance in right to work states compared to free-bargaining states.
	Right to work states have a poverty rate of 12.5 percent, compared with 10.2 percent in other states.
	Infant mortality is 16 percent higher in right to work states.
	The rate of workplace deaths is 51 percent higher in states with right to work, where unions can't speak up on behalf of workers.
	Maximum weekly worker compensation benefits are $30 higher in free states ($609 versus $579 in right to work states).
	Unions stem discrimination against women. Nationally, the gap between men's and women's pay is 32 percent - but between all men and union women the gap is only five percent.
	Unions protect people of color. Latino union members earn 45 percent ($180) more each week than nonunion Latinos. African-Americans earn 40 percent ($140) more each week if they are union members.
	More workers earning higher union wages means there are fewer workers who will work for less. This forces low-paying employers to raise wages to get or keep employees. This means more consumers with more money to spend which leads to more jobs and less unemployment.

Right to work forces are on the move now in Michigan. They are fueled by those who would continue to subjugate the working class in favor of the corporate class. It's no longer a case of the rich getting richer. It's a care of the very rich getting very much richer. People like Richard DeVos, newspapers like the Detroit News and institutions like the Mackinac Center are leading this charge to eliminate the middle class.

These right to work forces claim that adopting their proposal will bring jobs to Michigan. The real question is, "What kind of jobs?" Healthy, willing people can already find minimum wage jobs in Michigan. What we need here are not jobs per se. We need jobs that let people raise their families outside of poverty. We need jobs that let people have health insurance for their families. We need jobs that let parents send their children to college. We need jobs that give people a pension so they can enjoy their retirement years. We need jobs that do not discriminate against women and people of color. We need jobs that have safe and civil working conditions.

Those are union jobs that would be greatly diminished by right to work laws.

And those are just the facts.

- Saundra Williams, President
Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO