NE2: Northeast Right to Work Act

[Dr. Cynic]

I don't support this. Not only could it be in conflict with a federal law, but also there are no protections in there for workers who could be intimidated into working without the benefits of a union. An employer can always bring pressure to bear on a worker when it comes to a decision such as that.

While it may seem a no-brainer that a worker shouldn't join a union if they don't want to, there are practical concerns involved that lead me to oppose this. If I was a newly hired worker on the fence, I could be pressured by management under a law like this that would prevent the union from engaging in a similar sales pitch. There has to be some kind of guarantee that the playing field is going to be level and this bill ain't it.

[Dr. Cynic]

Even if this bill passed and was inexplicably signed, it would be in violation of the federal law so the court would surely toss it out.

Motion to table.

[Dr. Cynic]

I'm going to use a real life analogy for this sort of legislation. Several times over the years, professional wrestlers have attempted to form a union in Vince McMahon's WWF/WWE. However, each time, they were ratted out by someone else and promptly fired because Vince doesn't want to face that kind of leverage from his workers, so as to keep their wages relatively low.

This kind of law protects businessmen like that and it protects those who will rat on their co-workers. One of the guys goes to Vince and says "So and so is trying to get them organized". Vince fires the ringleader or ringleaders and uses a law like this as justification. "These were just some troublemakers trying to force everyone to unionize".

Those are the sort of people a law like this protects. I can't possibly support something like that. It may not be your intent, but it's the kind of thing that happens and would happen if this law were passed.

[Dr. Cynic]

Nay