In 1961 Martin Luther King, Jr. identified the effect of Right to Work laws in undermining economic justice and achieved democracy: “Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer, and there are no civil rights.”
While Right to Work advocates among business elites claim to be generously protecting the individual freedom of workers to avoid paying union dues, this display of concern is simply “a fraud,” King declared. “Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone.” 
“In our glorious fight for civil rights we must guard against being fooled by false slogans such as ‘Right to work.’ It provides no ‘rights’ and no ‘work.’ Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining,” King said.
