Message From Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa

Dear Teamster Union Member and Family,

Last November’s elections brought many anti-union governors and lawmakers into statehouses throughout the country. These elections were financed by a wave of corporate cash never before seen in this country.

Newly elected politicians are paying back their corporate contributors by attacking the voices of working people. Right to work (for LESS) laws are being proposed in a number of states, including Michigan, Missouri, Indiana, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Maine, Minnesota and more.

That’s bad for our paychecks, our union and our state. We need to protect our future by creating good jobs with good benefits. We don’t need more laws that stifle workers’ voices, lower wages and weaken safety in the workplace. Study after study shows:

• Right to work (for LESS) laws have NO impact on job creation;

• The average worker in states with right to work (for LESS) laws makes $5,538 a year less than workers in other states;

• The rate of workplace deaths is 52.9 percent higher in states with these right to work (for LESS) laws.

It’s critical that you call or write your representatives and urge them to vote against “right to work” proposals. Tell them to focus on what your state really needs: jobs.

Working families deserve better. Don’t let corporate interests take away the best job security that exists: the union contract.

"In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, as 'right-to-work.' It provides no 'rights' and no 'works.’ Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining. We demand this fraud be stopped."
--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.