Right to Work clear winner in head-to-head debate

In today’s Albuquerque Journal, both the “For” and “Against” sides got to make their cases with Mark Mix of the National Right to Work Foundation in support and Connie Derr, Executive Director of AFSCME in New Mexico against.

Derr complains about the Koch brothers for several paragraphs and brings one salient point to bear: “average wages for all occupations in RTW states are $4 an hour less than in non-RTW states.”

Mix, on the other hand, brings myriad facts to bear citing New Mexico’s struggling economy and showing how Western RTW states are outperforming their non-RTW peers. He also notes that once cost of living is accounted for, workers in RTW states make more. Mix also illustrates how RTW empowers workers and makes unions more responsive to them while not “killing” labor unions.

For more on why unions hate RTW, check out this video: