The Right-to-Work Imbroglio

Abstract

This article discusses the value of right-to-work laws by examining what additional rights accrue to workers through passage of right-to-work laws and how these laws affect the overall scheme of federal labor legislation. This article also discusses the political controversy surrounding the right-to-work issue, the misconceptions associated with right-to-work laws, and the limited scope of right-to-work laws under the National Labor Relations Act. Professor Eissinger recognizes that state right-to-work laws may have been beneficial in the early stages of United States labor policy, but concludes that right-to-work laws are no longer useful in the federal scheme of labor regulation and add little value to the protections now available to the individual worker.