24th state to have one. The phone lines are open. Also, send us a tweet or a facebook post, or send us an e mail. Heres what the president said yesterday in michigan. [video clip] these right to work law dont have to do with economics. They have everything to do with politics. What they are really talking about is giving you the right to work for less money. [cheers and applause] you only have to look to michigan, where workers were instrumental in reviving the Auto Industry and to see how unions have helped to build not just a straw uppermiddleclass but a stronger america stronger middleclass but a stronger america. People and should be focused on the same pink. They should be working to make sure Companies Like this manufacturer is able to make more great products. Thats what they should be focused on. Host distorts free press, courtesy of the newseum in washington, as this headline some schools are closed in the state so teachers can also protests that block today. Here is the detroit news. There headline michigan prounion people are protesting this law. The Republicanled Legislature is expected to take it up today. This legislation would bar workers from being required to pay union fees as a condition of employment even as thousands of Union Members plan to protest at the state capital. The story continues inside the New York Times. We are getting your take on this this morning. Start dialing in now. The wall street journal editorial page, they weigh in on the issue this morning. You can tell this is a big deal, based on the fury of big labors reaction. Edie in greenville, south carolina, democratic caller. Is it eddie . Im sorry. Good morning. Caller good morning. I live in a work state and does not benefit the employer is at all. A company just moved into it charleston, boeing. They had the first test flight or three months ago on the 787. That was catastrophic. The wheel well caught on fire. Other things did not work that were supposed to put out the fire instantly. Its not about quantity. It is quality. You need experienced union people. The unions have built this country and it will continue on , no matter what these guys try to do. Host why would Union Workers be Better Qualified . Caller these people in charleston got to have the experience. I have seen many generations of different aircraft. You had little glitches on the panel and stuff like that, which were fixable. But this, i think they even had another issue to emerge on the 787 that was built here in charleston. Host all right, that was referring to a story many of you will remember about it when the labor board weighed in on whether boeing could move from Washington State to south carolina. Damian in houston, texas, independent caller. Caller good morning. Texas is a right to work state. Right to work states tended to victimize the employees. Is employers dont have what a level standards for employment and it tends to create a high turnover, a love of the discrimination in the workplace a lot of discrimination. People feel they are not secure in their job and they often end up leaving or are fired because they are required to do so much for so little and it tends to make one feel as though things fe fort going to be sav the long term. Host heres the Washington Times showing a map of the states in green that have right to work laws. So thats the argument, companies will come to the states that have righttowork. These are the top five states for a business and they also have righttowork laws. Caller i see the statistics, but i think sometimes the statistics are manipulated in a way. Although these states appeared to be productive, theres a lot of criteria involved that may not be evaluated. And sometimes, even in a system where there appears to be a very high rate of productivity and business growth, theyre not telling the whole story. Host that is echoed in this piece in the Washington Post that was on our website yesterday. It goes through several different things. Damian in houston, texas, independent cholera. Independent caller. Caller i can see where the positioning of these laws affect where a company would want to move, states where there are righttowork laws in place, because the union is sort of a dying entity in america, and i think Companies Realize when you have a union in place it impedes what to their particular goal is. That is not something necessarily for the benefit of both parties, meaning the employer and the employee. If so, yes, i think they will go to whatever measure they can do so they can run the show with as little regulation as possible. Host nelson is a democratic caller in massachusetts. Caller i have worked in florida and in new england. Even though i am a registered republican, the righttowork states, doylestown to people making it boils down to people making profits. The union is a small factor in righttowork states. It is almost nonexistent in florida. If someone wants a workplace where they have some rights, then they should oppose the righttowork states. Host have you seen it firsthand . Caller in florida there are contractors. Someone i knew went to work for almost a week and then they decided not to pay him. He tried all kinds of ways, the labor board and Everything Else, but they totally ignored it. He never saw his money even though he had worked. Host deborah in michigan, democratic caller. Caller i am in the lower middle of the state. Host what do you make about your state possibly about to become the 24th state to get a righttowork law . Caller i am a democratic voter and i did support the democrats. But 24 states now have ratified this law, and the democrats have sat by and watched the republicans steamrolled this legislation through stateby state. Now finally they are getting to our state, which is probably the embodiment of unionization. At some junction of the democrats will get tired of donating and supporting while the democratic politicians sit and do nothing. If 6 publicans dont care of the public supports anything. They will steamroll what they want through. The democrats, from voting laws and their bidding else, the democrats will have to learn to expand their party, to stand up and fight for the people who vote for them. This is nothing new. You have the right to cut your nose off to spite your face. Is there any ceo in this land who will go into Court Without a bunch of lawyers to protect him . But they want people to be stupid enough to give up their rights. Thats all i have to say. I hope the democratic politicians realize this. They need to wake up and smell the coffee and start fighting and doing the same king the republicans where they get their money and their base from that the republicans are doing to the democrats. Host what do you make of your governor . He has changed his mind on this. He initially wanted to avoid the issue. Caller we have democratic politicians here that are so surprised that he changed his mind. Are they really . Is there one democrat that is dumb enough to believe anything the republicans says . Sorry to put in that context, but this is nothing new. These politicians should not be that surprised. Host from the New York Times, the republican governor on switching his position he said in an interview gabrielle in d. C. , independent. Gabriel. Theer its one more way in unions, or what used to being and unions representing people, are being taken advantage of. Again, it is always something. It seems theres the Profit Margins becoming so much more important to every corporation and the workers are pushed off to the side. This mentality is perpetuated throughout. This is what the right does constantly in congress. I dont mean the unions that have the thug mentality like jimmy hoffa, but the ones that have the potential to represent people and a meaningful representation of who they are and what they have given to companies and profits over years, their service, they stand to do a good job for them. Some have abused it, but now its completely takes the rug out from under them and further diminishes their capabilities. Host i need to learn how to read names, so im sorry about that. Bonnnie in middleton, new jersey. Democratic caller. Caller we have gone back to the robber baron days. Anyone depending on a paycheck, they have been had. We fought and people lost their lives to form unions. Unions are the base and the soul of the working class. Without them we have nothing. Companies like mcdonalds and pizza hut have seen 130 profits for the last four years by their employees making more than minimum weight but are there employees making minimal wage . Do they have any dignity or respect . No. Its not only lowwage workers. Now with College Students graduating. Our wages have not been this low since the last leg republican depression. Considering our economy is over 70 , if the expense over 70 on consumerism they have spent over 70 on consumerism. Theres nobody with money to spend. They dont have to pay taxes on their profits. They get all kinds of rewards and the of the people working for them get nothing. The people of that state have to pick up the cost so that they dont and everybody complains about welfare, which is not welfare any longer, is an Assistance Program and food stamps and medicaid for the children so they dont die without health services. And we are paying for it while the robber barons are profiting. Host this on twitter and we are posting a poll for all of you to take on our Facebook Page on whether you support or oppose righttowork laws. 32 people support them so far with 31 people opposing. In wisconsin, independent caller richard. Caller i am 65 years old. I am going to tell you people that even with disabilities and all the problems i have had, i was refused by selective service. So i had the opportunity to work at a corporation which became Mercury Marine in wisconsin. When i was there, people that were there for like 20 years, they would come up to me and say you dont have to bust your ass, you are going to be in the union, just take your time, all you have to do is punch the time clock. I will tell you what has happened. The unions became so prayerful and the demands that they made, they forced the employers to leave the state or to move overseas or to start businesses overseas. There is a book that this doctor his name is mallory factor, he wrote this book called the shadowb bosses. I recommend cspan have this author on washington journal so that people can understand the corruption in unions. It is sickening. Host corruption aside, do you think unions push for higher wages, and is that a good thing . Caller here is my opinion. What has happened is the unions no longer have the kind of power they once had. The reason why they dont is because over a long period of time they made such demands that the employer told the state, told the municipalities that if you dont work with us, we have no choice but to go to a place where we can survive. And so, they ended up either keing to other states liikjke Mercury Marine, the end of going to oklahoma. Host the New York Times editorial page is also weighing in on this. Got to get to some other news this morning as we continue our conversation about righttowork laws, now on the fiscal cliff. Heres the wall street journal but then heres the Washington Times this morning with their deadline headline so those are two headlines on House Speaker john boehner and how he is doing in the fiscal cliff tops. Headline is the president and the speaker both press each other. So that the latest in the back and forth on the fiscal cliff talks. The polls out, this is one from gallup. And the New York Post shows this poll back to our topic, our question, do you support or oppose righttowork laws . Paul in utica, michigan, democrat. Caller i live in suburban detroit. I am a retired union worker, not automotive, by the way. I dont think my union is a thug in any way, but i think its a sad day for the state of michigan. If the workers in this country cannot look to michigan like they always have, for a decent pay, and i think that is where we are headed, i just think it is a sad day. All the people who voted for these republicans, they are going to get what they asked for. This is what is going on here. I really sad about it. Host the car czar for michigan said its a choice between your jobs and higher wages or more jobs and lower wages. Ay we may end up with lower wages. It is a move in the wrong direction. I think we would have gotten more jobs year even without this. As the automotive and the economy grew here. I think it was on its way. I did not think we needed this. So, a dollar per hour jobs, you cannot raise families on 8 or 12. Is too bad thats the way we are going host you are in the union . Caller im a lifetime member. I am a telephone worker, 35 years. Our union did not run the company. The company ran the union. But i think that it was a good thing, and i never knew any thugs. I was involved in it myself and i never knew any corruption in it. I think unions uplift workers. Without it, if we are all in the race to the bottom. Host how much were your fees . Caller they were probably 5 to 10 a week. It came out of our pay. Thats about all it was. For that, maybe we got an extra dollar or two per hour ove3r a nonunion place. It was something that uplifted everyone. We were able to live a decent middleclass type of life. Host you mind telling me how much you made per year . Caller i am retired, but when i left it was about 50,000 per year. That was 10 years ago. Host now republican caller in michigan as well, dan. Caller i personally think the righttowork state is a good issue. I work with the company now that forces you to be a union member. You have no choice. From what i have seen and when i have experienced and my father was a Longtime Union member, a member of the teamsters, and he also worked for aerospace, and he went through this stuff in the 1930s. The problems then called for unionization. The problem we have now is they are more or less a political arm. They spend the members money without asking the members where they wanted to go. The uaw, which i belong to, there are untold numbers that are not satisfied with the membership or the management. It is a sad state of affairs. Host how much are your fees . Caller two hours worth of wages per month. Host and you dont think you are getting your moneys worth . Caller and the uaw is 14 an hour. Host that compares to what . Caller the job i had before in detroit i was making 24. 84 an hour, five years ago. I was a warehouse supervisor. Host nonunion . Caller it was voted down three consecutive times. Host heres an email from bob and florida. Making the economic argument against righttowork state. And then there are people who have an economic argument on the other side of it. If we read a piece earlier in the Washington Post on what righttowork states due to the broader economy. Due to the states economy . And now this isnt egypt. On the front page of the Washington Post, amid this turmoil, aid for egypt is on its way. The u. S. And a coalition of International Lenders are pushing ahead with billions of dollars of loans and other help for egypt and neighboring states. So, money going to the country despite the violence there. And on the domestic front, the Richmond Times dispatch, courtesy of the newseum, Health Care Law includes from a surprising 60 coverage free. Bob in rapid city, south dakota, republican caller. Caller whee are a rightto work state. In the past week we had an article in the newspaper that we are 16th in the nation in income. We averaged 44,000. Where is the nation averages 41,000. So its just not true that a righttowork state means lower income. Our Unemployment Rate is around 5 or 5. 2. Host 4. 5 , according to this Washington Times piece this morning. Caller our Union Membership in the state is 5. 6 . So it is not very high. We have three of the poorest counties in the country, and south dakota, also. Those are primarily indian reservations. Without those numbers pulling the numbers down, we would be even higher than that. Desk because you are a rightto work state does not mean you are giving up anything in the labor force. Just because. Host in north dakota the natural gas and oil industry has really boomed in the last few years. Is that the case in south dakota . Caller we get a little bit of that, particularly in western south dakota, because it flows into the northwestern part of the state. We are primarily an agricultural state. The agriculture has been pretty high lately. That is a contributing factor, certainly. The fact that you are a right towork status 9 necessarily mean youre giving up anything. I went to the bureau of labor statistics. It showed the average union worker makes 209 more per week than nonunion labor. But it does not seem to affect us in south dakota. Host all right. Stella on twitter and allison says gillian in little rock, democratic caller. Caller it should be called a right to farm state. Right to fire state. They are firing people without the people having any recourse. Of the states that still have unions, let them know they are going to become the right to fire states. Host dennis now, an independent scholar. Caller good morning. I was an engineer 30 years, so i was kind of in the middle of this management and union type thing. I worked for three fortune 500 companies and three Smaller Companies. So i have seen companies with unions and without unions and unions trying to come in. I have been through pretty much a whole shebang. I ended my career as a Vice President of engineering. My thoughts, from seeing all this, from an independent point of view, is the company should offer Profit Sharing to the people. If they want to give everybody a piece of the pie, give them some profitsharing, because i h