On Saturday, West Virginia Democratic Senate nominee Paula Jean Swearengin released an attack ad against incumbent Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito over the latter's support for right-to-work laws. In the ad, Swearengin calls the term "right-to-work" "a trick," and states that "it should be called 'the right to work for less.'"
"Capito claimed that right-to-work would 'eliminate barriers for those looking for better jobs.' The fact is: wages and personal income averages are lower in right-to-work states," Swearengin goes on to explain, citing the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).
Swearengin is far from the only progressive to speak out in opposition to right-to-work laws; as progressive economist and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich explains in a 2016 video, "right-to-work takes away the rights of workers in a union to collect dues from everyone in the bargaining unit who benefits from the bargains. This eventually eliminates the resources the union needs to bargain for higher wages and put pressure on employers."
Last December, the EPI released a report highlighting how several major employers have been, in the words of Mother Jones assistant editor Jacob Rosenberg, "spending millions on consultants for 'union avoidance.'" Among the 17 companies called out for such spending, throughout this election cycle, Capito's campaign has thus far received contributions from four of them.
Caterpillar (which spent $279,000 on union avoidance from 2014 to 2016) has contributed $5,000 in PAC money thus far to Capito, while FedEx ($837,000 from 2014 to 2018) has donated $10,000. In addition, Capito has collectively taken $2,000 from lobbyists for the latter company, namely Geoff Burr and Don Nickles. Furthermore, Owens Corning ($340,000 from 2014 to 2017) lobbyists, namely Dean Constantine Hingson and Elise Finley Pickering, have given a total of $1,500 to Capito, whereas the senator has taken the same amount from Megan Hauck, a lobbyist for Quest Diagnostics ($200,000 from 2015 to 2017). Finally, Capito has taken $5,000 in PAC money from the United Parcel Service ($311,000 from 2014 to 2018), as five of its lobbyists - Kirk Blalock, Brendan Dunn, Aleix Jarvis, Billy Piper, and Pat Raffaniello - have donated a collective total of $8,400 to her campaign.
In addition to the aforementioned companies, as Reich mentions, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, from which Capito has taken $5,000 this election, is a staunch advocate for right-to-work laws. The organization has endorsed Capito's campaign for re-election.
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