Union-busting laws are wrong for New Hampshire – and maybe State Senators are beginning to understand why HB 474 is bad legislation.
During public testimony and committee work sessions this past week, Senators heard from national experts about why this anti-worker bill harms workers and employers.
University of Oregon Professor Gordon Lafer told the Senators:
“Advocates of ‘right to work’ have suggested that if New Hampshire adopts such a statute, both the number of jobs in the state and the amount of money people earn would be significantly improved. Unfortunately, I have to tell you that this suggestion has no basis whatsoever in scientific fact.
“The most recent scientifically rigorous analyses show just the opposite:
· “Right to work” laws lower lowers wages for both union and non-union workers;
· they worsen the ability of both union and non-union workers to get job-based health insurance or pensions;
· and they do nothing at all to increase job growth.
Lafer knows what’s he’s talking about. He’s a professor at the University of Oregon and holds a PhD in Political Science from Yale University. He’s spent the past 25 years studying employment policy, including in 2009-10 serving as Senior Labor Policy Advisor for the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and Labor. He’s studied the impact of “RTW” laws on employment and wages. You can read his testimony here.
Likewise, Northeastern University Law Professor Karl E. Klare provided a sound legal argument against HB 474 because “of the damaging and ill-considered side effects on … New Hampshire’s labor-management legislation.” The bottom line, Klare told the committee, is that this anti-union bill “will do grievous damage to all of the citizens of New Hampshire who depend on public employers and employees for quality police protection, quality schools, quality public nursing, and all of the other services provided by state and local government.” You can read his testimony here.
House leaders are relentlessly pursuing an ideological platform – similar to Right Wing-funded battles in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana -- to decimate public employees, destroy all unions and, in the process, hurt the middle class.
Legally, politically, and economically this proposed anti-worker legislation is seriously flawed.
It is now up to the State Senate to take a reasoned, thoughtful, and more mature approach to New Hampshire’s challenges by rejecting HB 474.
On Tuesday, April 12, the Senate Commerce Committee will consider HB 474-FN. It is likely they will make a recommendation to the full Senate for a vote.
Likewise, Northeastern University Law Professor Karl E. Klare provided a sound legal argument against HB 474 because “of the damaging and ill-considered side effects on … New Hampshire’s labor-management legislation.” The bottom line, Klare told the committee, is that this anti-union bill “will do grievous damage to all of the citizens of New Hampshire who depend on public employers and employees for quality police protection, quality schools, quality public nursing, and all of the other services provided by state and local government.” You can read his testimony here.
House leaders are relentlessly pursuing an ideological platform – similar to Right Wing-funded battles in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana -- to decimate public employees, destroy all unions and, in the process, hurt the middle class.
Legally, politically, and economically this proposed anti-worker legislation is seriously flawed.
It is now up to the State Senate to take a reasoned, thoughtful, and more mature approach to New Hampshire’s challenges by rejecting HB 474.
On Tuesday, April 12, the Senate Commerce Committee will consider HB 474-FN. It is likely they will make a recommendation to the full Senate for a vote.
Time is short. Please ask your Senator to kill HB 474. You can use our online contact system here. You can find your Senator's contact information here .
Encourage your Senator to support the middle class, support collective bargaining, and support the laws that already make New Hampshire one of the best places to work.
