by DAN HEYMAN • Public News Service
CHARLESTON, W. Va. – As West Virginia lawmakers debate a so-called right-to-work bill, critics charge it’s designed to undermine a basic source of middle-class jobs.
Supporters admit that the half of states with the laws have lower average wages. But they argue those states, many in the south, also have lower costs of living. Unions and the laws’ opponents argue that’s the same as saying those states have lower standards of living and less union power to protect the middle class.
Steve Meador has long worked for Kroger in Roanoke, Virginia, a right-to-work state.
He says he gets paid a lot less than a similar Kroger worker here.
“Big time difference,” says Meador. “Same job, and the people here, because they’re a non-right-to-work state, make more money. It’s almost $2 an hour more.”
Without a right-to-work law, everyone covered by a union contract has to pay for the cost of keeping the contract in place. They don’t have to pay for other union activities, such as political contributions. With a right-to-work law, an employee is free not to pay any kind of union dues.
