Truth Alert: Fact-checking anti-Prop A commercial
Proposition A will be on Missouri’s statewide ballot in August.
A “yes” vote will adopt Senate Bill 19, the so-called right-to-work bill passed by the Missouri General Assembly last year. If it passes, it will prohibit forced membership and fees in a union as a condition of employment.
A new television commercial is airing and paid for by “We Are Missouri.”
The group describes itself as a “diverse coalition of workers, students, seniors and families who are fighting for good-paying jobs.”
The commercial starts with a man identified as Jesse Isbell from Oklahoma. Isbell starts the ad by saying, “In my state of Oklahoma, since it’s become a right-to-work state, we’ve lost tens of thousands of jobs. And wages have gone down.”
The claim that Oklahoma has lost “tens of thousands of jobs” is untrue, according to the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission. Right-to-work became the law in September of 2001, when the total job number was 1,518,600.
The OESC says that number was higher in May of this year, at 1,683,000 jobs. While it is possible jobs were lost, more have been added so there is a net gain of nearly 165,000 jobs since right-to-work went into effect in Oklahoma.
As far as the claim of wages going down, the average hourly wage in May 2007 (the earliest numbers the OESC has), was $17.43. May of this year is $23.15. Even adjusted for inflation, the average wage in Oklahoma is higher now.
The ad continues, “Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Labor reports show that in right-to-work states families make over $8,700 less per year but CEOs make 361 times the average worker.”
The methodology here is cloudy, but ABC 17 News selected at random five right-to-work states and compared them with non-right-to-work states. There was a nearly $10,000 difference on average with right-to-work states on the lower side.
And as far as CEOs making 361 times the average worker, that is true in many industries in this country and around the world.
While the BLS shows more jobs are created in right-to-work states, union and labor organizations say becoming a right to work state will weaken Missouri’s hourly wages, job security and conditions.
As is often possible, each side can find the numbers needed to make their argument.
