The Bucknuts Hot Spot

Yes there are plenty of companies out there that are willingly paying there employees more and they are non union. If you are serious and do the research and look at some of the studies that have been posted on here you will see there is very liitle proof that unions drive wages up and there is very little difference in pay between RTW and non RTW states. The market drives wages as well as skill sets of the employees. It is impossible to use the data available and make statements like you are trying to make

Do you have proof that companies are not paying employees more? and not sure what you mean by indiana trying to convince people get people less? that has nothing to do with right to work?

Companies will build or move labor for varous reasons, labor being one of them, the market being another.in my opinion you and I are just as much at fault for that as the company. We, Americans demand the best possible product at the cheapest possible price. Take TV's for instance, I assume you are a guy, every guy wants that awsome 60 inch LED TV. if mfg cost here in the US forces the price of that TV to stay above 5000 dollars, you and I probably wont buy it, just walk through Best buy and wish. thanChina, India, Taiwan, Mexico had cheaper labor allowing the company to mfg there and to sell that TV for 1000 bucks, guess what, you and I run out and buy 2 of them. We forced the hand, it wasnt only Union shops that moved over seas, non union shops did as well.

Now the trend is swictching thanks to increased wages in those countries and increased transportation costs and you are starting to see jobs move back, not as much as I would like but it is reversing, but the company still has to maintain the price point that will allow them to sell that TV to us cheap Americans.

Once again, Right to work does not eliminate any unions, there are still unions in all current states that are RTW. I am still trying to figure out what the deal is with it and if it is a good thing or not,

So I decided to look at what is out there to prove this statement, I did not find much of anything that puts the reason for income inequality on the feet of declining unions. I know income inequality is the new buzz word being thrown out by the media and politicians so i looked for studies and such out there.

If this statement was true, than how can you explain the same rise in income gap and in some cases higher rise in income gap in the european countries? those coutnries are more heavy union countries than the US, but yet they are seeing the same growth in income gap.

the UK, is actually growing faster than the US and they are very heavy union
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/dec/05/income-inequality-growing-faster-uk

Here is a study on Canada but has some research done on all countries around the world as a comparison
http://www.conferenceboard.ca/hcp/details/society/income-inequality.aspx

From these studies and others out there, it looks like the global economy, new technology and the global recession is the main reason for the widening gap, but none of them stated anything about decline in unions, which makes sense really, the union decline looks like it started in the late 60's, was not able to find any data on income gaps back than to do a comparison, but the dcline started well before anything recent. I found this chart that shows periods of decline ( have no idea what the blog is, just thought it showed the best chart, didnt go into any reasoning they may have)
http://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2006/03/union-membership-trends-in-us-private.html

I guess in summary, much like anything, when it comes to the economy it is never as simple as pointing to 1 thing in paticualr as a cause but rather something much more complex than people are willing to bother researching or thinking about

WOW, I wish I was seeing what you are talking about. I am an executive level manager in my company and have received no raises or bonuses for 3 years now, while the hourly employees receive their raises every year (as they should). My annual bonus is tied directly to company profitability as is my wage increase apparently. The thing of this is I understand that the company is struggling financially since the depression hit. Yes, I want my raises and bonus but even more than that I want the company to survive so I can continue getting a paycheck.

Unions built the middle class in this country, and the middle class today repays them by undermining them. The vast majority of even working-class people are completely ignorant that unions are the only buffer between them and the greed of the ownership class. RTW engenders inequality. Here are a few facts.

-Workers in RTW states make 6.5% less than comparable workers living in non-right-to-work-states according to The Economic Policy Inst.

-Average union density in states w/o RTW is 15.1%, compared to 7.1% in RTW states. Therefore, there is little doubt that RTW is an impediment to organizing.

- Average minimum wage for 2011 in states w/o RTW was $7.04 vs. $5.55 in RTW. This shows how those at the bottom of the wage scale are especially hardhit.

-In 1985 Idaho was ranked 35th in the nation for per-capita income. That's when RTW was passed. It now ranks 49th. Think there might be a correlation?

RTW is a race to the bottom, no matter how it's marketed. If you are one of those who wants to see America transform it's economy to one that resembles a Latin American country, support RTW.