Right-To-Work Laws

Report Outline
Pressure for Right-to-Work Legislation
Evolution of Right-To-Work Movement
Debate on the Right-To-Work Principle
Special Focus

Pressure for Right-to-Work Legislation

Reaction to Bad Conduct Among Union Officials

Disclosure by the Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field of numerous cases of bad conduct on the part of high labor union officials has set off a wave of anti-union sentiment without recent precedent. Notwithstanding action by the A.F.L.-C.I.O. to suspend or expel affiliated unions which do not clean house, Congress will be asked this winter to extend the range of federal supervision over union activities.

Abuse of welfare funds, undemocratic union election practices, and employer-union collusion are likely to be the chief targets of proposed federal curbs. Whatever the specific terms of measures put before the Congress, a principal purpose will be to assure rank-and-file members of labor unions a greater degree of control over the activities of their leaders.

Despite the threatened imposition of new restrictions by the federal government, labor leaders have indicated that their chief worry is the likelihood that the Senate rackets investigation will give a fresh push to passage of right-to-work laws in the states. These are statutes which prohibit labor-management agreements which require union membership as a condition of employment.