Democrats vs. Workplace Freedom | The American Spectator

As Democrats continue their radical agenda, they’re setting their sights on the freedom of American workers. Under the guise of “protecting” workers and labor unions, Democrats are seeking to repeal several states’ current Right-To-Work (RTW) laws, taking away freedom in the workplace and expanding Big Labor’s control over the labor market.

Recently, Democrats in Virginia sought to repeal the state’s decades-old RTW law. SB32, which sought to repeal the state’s 1947 RTW statute, was filed in the Virginia Senate last November by Democrat State Senator Jennifer Carroll Foy. Virginia’s RTW statute ensures that workers’ right to work “shall not be denied or abridged on account of membership or non-membership in any labor union or labor organization.” The law also prevents workers from being compelled to pay union dues or similar fees for employment regardless of their union or non-union status.

Fortunately, SB32 failed after it was left in the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee after facing considerable opposition from Republicans and even some Democrats.

In Kentucky, Democrats in the state legislature, with strong backing from the state’s major labor unions, have filed similar legislation to repeal the state’s 2017 RTW law. Though Republicans have solid control over both chambers of the Kentucky General Assembly, Democrats along with their union allies remain steadfast in their efforts.

Much of the momentum behind these efforts is coming from Democrat governors who have been vocal critics of RTW. Virginia’s Governor Spanberger, who has attempted to frame herself as a moderate on RTW, is actually a strong critic of RTW, as shown by her past co-sponsorship of the Protect the Right To Organize (PRO) Act, which would have banned states’ RTW laws nationwide. Her self-proclaimed moderation on the issue is not authentic.

As noted by Calloway Bills, an analyst at Americans for Tax Reform, “Spanberger’s recent silence on RTW isn’t moderation. Rather, it’s a calculated ploy to mislead voters and hide her long record of backing legislation pushed by powerful union bosses.”

Unlike Spanberger, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, along with his Lt. Governor Jacqueline Coleman, has been vocal in his opposition to RTW. Beshear has been critical of the state’s 2017 RTW law ever since he began serving as the state’s attorney general. He made his stance even clearer when speaking with Kentucky’s AFL-CIO during his first run for governor in 2019.

Anti-RTF forces in Virginia and Kentucky promote their positions as a sign of relief for workers in those states. But in reality, they signal major warnings for workers across the nation.

In a 2026 report to the Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Mangum Economics found that a repeal of Virginia’s RTW law “would likely have substantial and long-term negative consequences for Virginia’s economy.” That report is no surprise. It has been affirmed by the reality brought on by Democrat efforts in states like Michigan.

In 2023, Democrats managed to successfully repeal Michigan’s RTW law, making it the first state to do so. What has been the result of this repeal? Not good, and that’s according to the state’s businesses and workers. Michigan manufacturers say that they are struggling to attract investments and workers to the state, and workers now find that their wages are lower than in states with RTW.

A report by Michigan’s House Fiscal Agency (HFA) found that current employment growth in the state has become weaker under current projections. “The Michigan outlook projects a slightly weaker employment picture than the national economy,” HFA stated, “with softer employment growth and unemployment peaking at 5.4 percent in CY 2026 and CY 2027 before dropping to 5.3 percent in CY 2028.”

Michigan’s experience provides a clear case showcasing the negative effects that repealing RTW has had on workers and businesses. Stephen Delie, former director of labor policy at Michigan’s Mackinac Center, states that “right-to-work prevents unions from forcing an employer to fire an employee who refuses to pay the union.” “Without right-to-work,” Delie states, “unions can present workers with an offer they can’t refuse: pay the union or lose your job.”

The claim that RTW causes wages to be reduced is yet another lie. The Manhattan Institute recently found that workers’ wages in states that have RTW don’t have reduced wages; quite the contrary. “We fail to find any evidence that RTW laws reduce wages,” the institute stated. “In fact, our results suggest that RTW laws slightly increase per-hour wages, especially for low-income workers.”

Also states with RTW have had greater economic growth than states without RTW. As found by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, states with RTW have higher rates of investment and manufacturing growth. The reason, as CEI found, is that businesses view RTW states as more attractive because they are not worried that labor unions will raise labor costs significantly and not hamper their ability to attract talented workers and investments.

The fact that Democrats and major labor unions are ignoring the benefits of Right-To-Work and seeking to repeal them shows that this is not about caring for workers as they frame it; rather, it’s about power and lining their pockets. Following Michigan’s repeal of RTW, for example, union leaders acknowledged that they would be receiving new revenue from increased dues from agency shops, as well as Democrats acquiring more financial contributions from labor unions.

The truth is that Democrats and Big Labor have formed a crony-ist alliance, one that exchanges votes and support in elections for special privileges that exploit the nation’s labor market.

This effort by Democrats and Big Labor is an assault on the American workers’ fundamental freedom in the workplace to decide simply whether they wish to join a union.

American workers should never be forced into an arrangement where they are taken advantage of, nor be forced to join labor organizations that support causes that go against their individual interests and beliefs. If America’s workers are to be truly empowered in the workplace, they should be given the essential freedom to choose to associate upon their own consent, and not by force.

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