Texas employees are subject to what many politicians refer to as “right-to-work” laws. Before getting into how these laws specifically affect both business’ and employees, it is necessary to flesh out meaning from “right-to-work.” The simple definition here suggests that as a state, Texas protects workers’ right to work. It is reasonable to assume that every state wants their citizens to work; high unemployment is a symptom of broader economic and social ailments. Why then do Texas workers need a law to protect rights that are not being threatened?
The GOP is famous for dangerous, irresponsible misuse of rhetoric – just ask Ted Nugent. GOP rhetoric has essentially undermined the basic definition of buzzwords like freedom, hero, communist, socialist,?etc. These semantic-shifts serve to misinform and misguide the general public – effectively recreating meaning in a self-serving manner. “Right-to-work” laws are another example of GOP directed meaning-making.?In reality – “right-to-work” laws do nothing to ensure employment for Texans. Rather, these laws allow for the regulation – and subsequent invalidation – of the contractual relationships between labor and employers. These laws further undermine worker rights by preventing unions from collecting dues – an effort that successfully undercuts the financial viability of organized labor.?The?Houston Business Journal?puts an interesting spin on this issue:
Texas courts have found that the Texas Right-to-Work Act is intended to protect employees in the exercise of their right of free choice of joining or not joining a union. Any attempt by a company or organization to infringe on this right may result in a civil lawsuit brought by the state on behalf of the aggrieved employee (Collier, August 2004).
The author of this post, Hurlie Collier, is a partner in the Houston-located firm BakerHostetler. According to the firm’s website, BakerHostetler specializes in representing clients involved in high-risk business disputes and government litigation. Just to be clear – a lawyer that represents big business penned an article for a business magazine published in the big business capital of Texas that attempts to provide justification for a law that directly serves the financial interests of big business. In Texas, Jesus is a capitalist – I digress.
To return to my previous question – what are Texas workers being protected from? The big, bad unions, of course! As Collier identifies – it is the employee’s rights that organized labor threaten. I like to call this semantic shift the “Grand Ol’ Party Bait & Switch”. A bait & switch attempts to create meaning in the absence of meaning. More specifically, by calling these laws “right-to-work” and effectively limiting the ability of organized labor?to organize, a causal connection is established that vilifies organized labor: If Texas is a “right-to-work” state and “right-to-work” laws marginalize the impact of organized labor, then a citizen’s right to work must be diametrically opposed to organized labor. ?Right – everyone knows the ultimate goal of labor unions is to ensure that everyone is unemployed.
Laws such as these serve to drive down wages and pad the profit margins of big business. But how could this be? Texas emerged relatively unscathed from the recent economic downturn – a fact that formed the basis of Slick Rick Perry’s bumbling-idiot-failure of a presidential campaign. The GOP has argued that the economic success of Texas business is made so only by the favorable economic climate of the state. Here the GOP is partially correct – Texas does have an economic climate that favors big business. But it only does so by driving wage down while prices only go up (Is your gas cheaper now than it used to be?) What this stance ignores is the dependency of big business on a dearth of natural resources. No one is making oil and natural gas – new methods of extraction have allowed for business to get what was already there. With that being said – the notion that Texas policies are somehow better than their more liberal counterparts because a few people are getting even richer is absurd.
“Right-to-work” laws are perhaps more aptly described by labor organizations as “right-to-work-for-less” or “right-to-fire” laws. These laws serve only the wealthy, and adversely impact the economic viability of waged employees for years to come. This is just another example of GOP rhetorical strategy – taking from the very people who they are claiming to serve. Don’t believe me? The GOP is gearing up to roll back the advancements made by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – to save African Americans from the racist agenda of the Democratic Party.?
