Our Goals

Top Priority:
Ending Forced Unionism by Passing State Right to Work Laws

Right now, more than half a million New England workers are forced to pay tribute to a union boss — or be fired.

That’s just plain wrong. But forced-unionism affects all New Englanders. This is because Big Labor’s inefficiencies, featherbedding, wasteful work rules, and its union-label hate-the-boss mentality are driving jobs and businesses out of the region. This is why we need the state Right to Work laws, and fast.

Over the last decade, Right to Work states saw fifty times as much job creation as forced unionism states like we have in New England.

Meanwhile, forced dues funnel money into Big Labor’s political machine to elect their handpicked politicians who are sure to vote to protect and expand Big Labor’s forced-dues empire. Something needs to be done to fix this.

So, for all these reasons, New England Citizens for Right to Work believes that it's critical to pass state Right to Work laws and finally end forced union dues in New England.

Secondary Priorities

New England Citizens for Right to Work is a single-issue organization dedicated to ending forced unionism, and Right to Work laws are -- by far -- the best mechanism available to states for doing that. Therefore, the overwhelming majority of our effort is spent building towards passage of Right to Work laws.

However, there are a handful of other varieties of legislation that directly impact forced unionism by either advancing or harming the Right-to-Work principle. In these limited cases, our organization will take a position and get involved to an appropriate extent according to circumstance. Although these secondary issues are important, they will never be as important, or as impactful, as a state passing a Right to Work law under section 14(b) of the federal Taft-Hartley Act.

Banning Union-Only Project Labor Agreements

Today, New England state laws allow so-called “project labor agreements” which discriminate against the vast majority of workers in the building trades who choose not to join a union.

By undermining free market competition these agreements have been shown to raise costs -- borne by taxpayers like you and me -- by as much as 25%. All while they do nothing to actually ensure that projects are completed safely or on time.

New England Citizens for Right to Work believes that government “project labor agreements” are wrong. Therefore, they should be banned for both state and local government projects.

Defending Public-Sector Janus Rights

In the landmark 2018 Janus v. AFSCME decision, the United States Supreme Court declared forced dues in the public sector unconstitutional under the First Amendment of the US Constitution. 

This was an enormous success for our movement, effectively bringing Right to Work to the public sector nationwide.

Of course, Big Labor wasn't going to let that cash cow go easily. 

Ever since, the union bosses and their pet politicians have advanced a steady stream of convoluted schemes to maintain their power over workers and governments -- ranging from setting arbitrary resignation windows, to requiring non-union workers to pay “fees” for using mandatory union-created grievance processes, to direct taxpayer subsidies of union bosses. 

New England Citizens for Right to Work stands against any attempts to diminish Janus rights for public-sector workers. 

Ending Union-Only Monopoly Bargaining for Government Workers

Right now, state laws across New England grant union officials monopoly-bargaining power over public-sector employees -- whether or not they want union boss “representation”.

What does that mean? Monopoly bargaining usurps those workers’ right to bargain on their own behalf. Citizens should be able to work for their own state or local government without having to defer to a third-party union boss.

And it's a bad deal for the rest of us too, because monopoly bargaining inevitably leads to poorer service at higher costs, with taxpayers stuck footing the bill.

Therefore, New England Citizens for Right to Work believes in ending union-only monopoly bargaining privileges in the public sector.