Low Union=High Growth; High Union=Low Growth

From 2003 to 2008,the aggregate gross domestic product (GDP), in constant, chained 2000 dollars, for the states with the lowest share of workers under union monopoly control increased by a healthy 17.3%. In these 10 states, as of 2003 4.7% or less of private employees were forced to accept a union as their monopolybargaining agent. Meanwhile, the real GDP of the country as a whole grew by just 12.7%. And in the 10 states with the highest private-sector unionization, aggregate output grew by just 9.9% -- roughly 57% as much as in the lowest-union-density states (see chart above).

At a time when the country is struggling to pull out of a recession, Congress must not pass any legislation to promote union monopoly bargaining, which has a strong negative correlation with economic growth generally and with job growth in particular. Enactment of S.560 (the Senate version of the proposed anti-worker "card check" legislation) or its near equivalent would mean millions more employees hamstrung by wasteful union work rules and slowdowns that destroy good jobs.

Another consequence would be millions of additional workers forced to pay union dues or fees just to keep their jobs. Much of the confiscated cash would be funneled by Big Labor into efforts to elect even more anti-Right to Work, Tax & Spend politicians to Congress. That's why Right to Work members and supporters are preparing for an allout battle to ensure that not just S.560 and H.R.1409 themselves, but all phony card-check 'compromises,' are defeated in Congress this year and in 2010.

~National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix