Right to Work
HB448 IS AN EXTREME “RIGHT TO WORK” BILL THAT UNDERMINES OUR FREEDOM TO NEGOTIATE FOR WAGES, BENEFITS AND WORKPLACE SAFETY
Right to Work is WRONG for Montana.
Right to Work is the government telling workers and employers what they can and can't bargain for. The government should stay out of private contracts and leave workers and employers alone to create a safe, stable and skilled workforce with good jobs.
HB448 will damage Montana’s economy, depress wages for workers, and radically increase workplace fatalities.
Even employers don’t want this bill. They want a skilled, highly-trained workforce and a professional way of dealing with workplace differences that is predictable and saves them time and money. This is the benefit that they know unions provide.
Right to Work is not the way we do things in Montana. HB448 undermines our freedom to join together and have a meaningful voice in the workplace.
We have a tradition here in Montana of strong communities. We take care of one another. Right to Work curtails our freedoms to negotiate as both employers and employees see fit.
In Right To Work states, workers have less income. In Idaho, construction workers earn almost $9,000 less per year than in Montana.*
Right to Work laws undermine local economies. Apprenticeships, paid for solely by workers and our employers, give workers the valuable skills that employers need.
Right to Work laws create more dangerous work. Workers are 54% more likely to die on the job in states with Right to Work laws.**
* According to data from the Montana Department of Labor and Industry and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
** “Study: Right-to-Work laws harm workplace safety,” Industrial, Safety and Hygiene News, Oct. 9, 2018.