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Economic analyst: Forcing employees to join unions bad for economy

By AARON KRAUSE - Reflector Staff Writer | Wednesday February 10 2010, 3:17pm

The president of a fiscally conservative group says the fact that Ohio forces employees to join unions at companies that have them is partly to blame for Ohio's economic problems

_{Matt Mayer BUY PHOTO}

Matt Mayer, president of the Buckeye Institute, spoke to Norwalk Area Huron County Chamber of Commerce Monday. He wants area business leaders to advocate for more business-friendly rules at the state level.

A new institute report looked back to 1990 and 2000 to see how Ohio fared in the "mythical boom era" of the 1990s.

"Ohio added jobs, that is true," Mayer said during a press conference prior to his meeting with chamber members. "But when you look at how many jobs Ohio added compared to other states, we actually were a pretty weak job creator during the boom time of the 1990s.

"When it came to the bust of the last eight years, Ohio busted far more egregiously and severely than other states."

Mayer said his organization wanted to know what factors were keeping Ohio from becoming a "vibrant, robust economy" an economy that in good times creates huge numbers of jobs and in bad times, sustains those jobs or weathers minimal losses.

The Buckeye Institute's report found a "very large correlation" between economic success and "whether you're a right-to-work state or a forced-unionization state," Mayer said. A right-to-work state allows workers at companies with unions to chose whether to join.

If you're a heavily unionized state "chances are you had terrible growth in the 90s compared to other states and your job losses in 2000 was horrible, Mayer said. In terms of job growth, the bottom 15 states from 1990 to today are all states that require unionization. Of the top 15 states, 11 of them do not require workers at companies with unions to join them, Mayer said.

"When you look at that you have to ask yourself some tough questions," he said. "Frankly, we lost jobs because our southern and western states are kicking our tail. They are producing jobs and they're sustaining those jobs in the bad times because there is the economic freedom for the worker.

"Businesses aren't stupid; they're not going to go somewhere where the cost of their business is going to go up arbitrarily because of unionization."

Nonsense, said Steve Yagielo, business manager of Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 42 in Norwalk.

"Yes, it's inaccurate; it's another ploy. Just because a person belongs to a union they 'assume' that the cost of building is going to be higher," Yagielo said.

Yagielo said well-known universities, including Michigan State, have performed extensive research on the cost of construction using union vs. non-unionized employees. He added the studies found no evidence that using unionized workers raises the cost over what Yagielo called "open shop" labor.

In fact, "we put back in the city through tax dollars a considerable more amount than open shop contracts that don't pay people those types of wages and don't offer those types of benefits."

Yagielo said Local 42 turns out "qualified journeymen and women that are very qualified to perform the job task using the education they get through the union's apprenticeship."

The union's five-year apprenticeship program offers more than 200 hours each year in training as well as 2,000 hours of field experience, Yagielo said. Through a partnership with Owens Community College and Lorain County Community College employees earn 31 to 34 credit hours toward an associate degree in construction management, Yagielo said.

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