I’m not in a RTW state and people in my state have been arguing about it as long as I can remember. Even after I read it, I still don’t understand what it means and how it could bring wages down.
In: 96
That depends on where you are.
Internationally, the [right to work](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_work) is a human rights framework which says that everyone has an inherent right to have a job. Some version of the language below (from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) might be put into the local nation’s Constitution:
>Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
A nation that recognizes a human right to work might pass laws and social programs to protect that right, such as laws mandating safe and healthy working conditions, or a social agency that will find you a job if you voluntarily choose to use their services when you are unable to find one yourself.
In the United States, however, “[right-to-work](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-work_law)” is mostly a confusing misnomer. It doesn’t mean the same as what the term means internationally… in fact, it doesn’t even mean what you might assume it means, just by looking at the dictionary definition of the words “right” and “work”.
In the United States, “right-to-work” laws are laws that prohibit unions and companies from requiring non-union members to contribute to the cost of union representation. “U.S. right-to-work laws do not aim to provide a general guarantee of employment to people seeking work”, as Wiki says; instead, they guarantee that an employee can avoid paying for labor union benefits, even if they cannot be prevented from using workplace practices, protections, and norms that the labor union fought for.
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