Right-to-Work Laws and the Crumbling of American Public Health

This book discusses the socioeconomic effects of Right-to-Work (RTW) laws on the general population. Such laws forbid requiring union membership even at union-represented worksites, and arose mainly in states with a deep cultural heritage from agrarian feudal England. While RTW and non-RTW states in the US do not differ significantly in unemployment rates, RTW laws buttress hierarchy and power imbalance which unions minimize at the worksite. Unions also encourage higher educational attainment, social mobility, and individual empowerment through group validation. RTW states have higher poverty rates, lower median household incomes, and lower educational attainment on average than non-RTW states. RTW states on average also have lower life expectancy, a prevalence of obesity, and higher rates of all-cause mortality, early mortality from chronic conditions, child mortality, and risk-taking than non-RTW states. The much higher mortality rates in the RTW system result in startlingly higher annual numbers of years of life lost before age 75. Stroke mortality in the 55-64 age range in RTW states results in an annual nearly 10,000 years lost in excess of what it would be if the mortality rate were that of non-RTW states. A brief review of publications from the late 1990s-early 2000s provides details of the physiological mechanisms and epidemiology of accelerated aging due to socioeconomic stress. Labor unions challenge hierarchy directly through work-site power balancing and indirectly through encouraging college education, social mobility, and community. The last chapter includes recommendations to weaken the roots of RTW laws. The major revelation for readers will be the role of feudal hierarchy in 21 st century America, especially its role in the vast differences between states in macro- and micro-economics, educational attainment, innovation, life expectancy, obesity prevalence, chronic disease mortality, infant and child mortality, risk behaviors, and other public health markers. Readers will gain insight about the coming clash between feudal individualism and future collectivism, and on potential ways to direct the clash by "missionary" work for collectivism.