An Ohio township north of Cincinnati soon may become the first place in the state to enact a right-to-work ordinance.
West Chester officials announced this week that they are planning a resolution that would forbid workers from being forced to join or otherwise financially support a union as a condition of employment. If enacted, it would be the only place in Ohio with such a rule.
“There is a ton of evidence that says that companies would rather relocate and build their business in right-to-work states. I think we should move ahead on this as quickly as possible and give potential manufacturers that are looking at Ohio or looking at the region, another reason to come to West Chester,” Mark Welch, president of the West Chester Board of Trustees, told the Hamilton Journal News.
Don Boyd, director of labor and legal affairs for the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, told the Washington Examiner that West Chester’s move was the “logical consequence” of the expansion of right-to-work laws in recent years to nearby states such as Michigan and Indiana. Ohio is now at a competitive disadvantage.
“Four out of the five states that surrounding Ohio are now right-to-work,” Boyd said.
The Ohio AFL-CIO descibed the board’s move as “worker attacks start.”
Right-to-work laws prohibit union-management contracts that force all workers to join the union or pay it a regular fee if they want to keep their job. Such provisions, called “security clauses” by unions, are a standard feature in most union contracts. Labor leaders argue the provisions are justified because all workers benefit from collective bargaining. Critics argue that it should be the workers’ choice whether they want to back the union.
Labor leaders hate the laws because they are associated with declines in membership and depleted treasuries, resulting in weaker unions. Right-to-work proponents such as Welch argue the laws help to attract businesses.
Until recently, only states had right-to-work laws. Currently 27 have them. However, in 2015, several counties in Kentucky began to adopt them. The efforts appear to have had the effect of boosting interest in the law statewide. Kentucky officially became the 27th right-to-work state last week.
“We’re keeping a close eye on it,” said the Chamber’s Boyd. “Depending upon how things go, it may catch on in other counties.”
Right-to-work would nevertheless face an uphill battle in Ohio, a rust-belt state with a long pro-labor tradition. There has been no statehouse-level effort, Boyd said, because in the Buckeye State legislation can be overriden by a voter referendum. In 2011, organized labor led a succesful effort to override changes to the state’s public-sector union rules pushed through by Republican Gov. John Kaisch. State lawmakers assume the same thing would happen to a right-to-work bill.
Welch and others on the board could not be reached for comment.
The legality of local right-to-work laws remains murky. Federal law explicitly allowed right-to-work for states in 1947 and opponents have argued that Congress has never allowed it to go further than that. A federal appeals court ruled last year that counties could enact right-to-work ordinances but smaller units of government could not. The Supreme Court has never weighed in on the issue.
