Pro Right to Work Politicians in West Virginia Attack Working People on the State Senate Floor
West Virginia state Sen. Robert Karnes (R) doesn't think too highly of everyday working people trying to create a better life and earn wages to sustain a family on. In fact, he called the concerned citizens who attended a recent "right to work" bill debate "free riders." Watch the video above.
Karnes is one of the Republicans in leadership in the West Virginia Senate pushing a bill that out-of-state corporate CEOs just love. One that would lower wages, make workplaces less safe, increase poverty and lower access to adequate health care. It's clear the Republican leaders don't think too highly of West Virginia's working people.
Jesse Isbell from Oklahoma City, Okla., knows all about the dangerous effects of right to work legislation. The law was passed in 2001 in Oklahoma and five years later, Isbell lost his job of 36 years at the Bridgestone Tire plant when the work was shipped to Mexico.
“In my case and in the case of 1,400 brothers and sisters at that facility, the law did not work as advertised,” Isbell said at the state Capitol. “There’s absolutely no anecdotal or empirical evidence that right to work has benefited the Oklahoma state economy in any way. The truth is that it has driven down wages.”
West Virginia's working families understand what some pro-corporate politicians like Karnes clearly don't: Right to work is wrong for working people, plain and simple. All you need to know about right to work laws is demonstrated below:
