Rep. Rehder's RTW views are wrong for Missouri

After reading Holly Rehder's article on Right to Work, renamed Freedom to Work so it sounds better, I am compelled to write a response.

I wish she would have listed a few of these companies that are bypassing Missouri and running to our neighboring RTW states. I believe that the number of companies locating there because of RTW is minimal. If that is the main reason for them to locate there, they are looking for cheap labor. We don't need these companies in Missouri as they will be paying subsistence wages and their workers will depend on food stamps, housing assistance, Medicaid, etc., to survive.

Several years of surveys by site selection experts for Elliot Development Magazine has found that RTW is not even in the top 10 reasons that determine where a company will locate.

She keeps using the words force and coerce workers to join a union. Only about 10 percent of jobs in Missouri are union which means 90 percent are not. If a worker dislikes unions so bad that he doesn't want to pay dues to support it, he should take one of the 90 percent non-union jobs. The only reason this person would want to work in a union environment is because union jobs pay more and have better benefits. This person is considered a freeloader who wishes to reap the benefits without sharing the costs of securing them.

Another fallacy is her statement that wages are higher in RTW states. This is not true. The United States Census Bureau reports that wages average over $8,000 less in RTW states.

Another statement that upsets me is that opponents of RTW are union bosses and politicians supported by union dues. These so-called union bosses are duly elected representatives of the members and if they don't do their jobs they will be voted out of office and yes, unions do support politicians that support workers' causes. Some of these are a higher minimum wage, better and affordable healthcare for all, tax laws that favor workers over corporations, etc. Sorry, Holly, you don't measure up for our support.

She also asked if an organization would be more responsive to its members if they had a choice to join. When you have freeloaders it weakens any organization and they will be less responsive.

In 2016, Ms. Rehder received $100,000 from the biggest support of RTW in Missouri, the Humphrey family. Could this explain why she is such a big fan of RTW? For them it's all about power and campaign contributions.

Let's call RTW what is really is. It is an attempt to bust unions and weaken the bargaining power of all workers, union and non-union alike.

Jim Eftink is a resident of Oran, Missouri.