FRANKFORT, Ky. - The Bluegrass has become a battleground state over right-to-work legislation with a handful of counties passing local laws and all four Republican candidates for governor supporting the idea.

But, a new economic analysis questions whether right-to-work legislation delivers on its promise of economic growth.

The idea is to stop requiring workers who aren't union members, but are still covered by a union, to pay dues. A report from the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy finds a lack of job growth and lower wages in right-to-work states. Bill Londrigan is president of the AFL-CIO in Kentucky.

"It demonstrates what unions and workers have been saying for a long time, that proponents of right to work have been cookin' the books," he says.

The Republican-controlled Kentucky Senate passed a right-to-work bill during this year's legislative session, but it died in the Democrat-controlled House.

The National Right to Work Committee claims the 26 right-to-work states "enjoy a higher standard of living" and families in those states, on average, "have greater after-tax income and purchasing power." But, Anna Baumann, policy analyst and author of the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy report, says most studies show the law tamps down worker pay.

"It doesn't grow jobs in manufacturing or other sectors," says Baumann. "What it does do is it lowers workers' wages. It decreases the chances they'll have employer-provided benefits. "

Baumann's report finds when it comes to returning to pre-recession employment levels, Kentucky is outpacing neighboring right-to-work states Tennessee and Virginia.

Right-to-work supporters claim allowing workers to decide on whether they want to join a union or pay dues is not anti-union, a stance that rankles union boss Londrigan.

"It's an insult to workers, it's an insult to unions, it's an insult to the general public because we all know that this is an anti-union strategy," he says.


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New national rankings out this week show South Dakota jumped a few spots higher in teacher pay for each state. However, there are questions about whether the shift will be temporary.

The National Education Association puts South Dakota at 46th in the U.S. for compensation offered to educators around the state. The current rank is the highest South Dakota has achieved since reporting began. Teachers in the state now earn an average salary of more than $56,000.

Loren Paul, president of the South Dakota Education Association, credits higher bumps in state aid the past few years.

"That extra effort from our state gets us out of the bottom rankings," Paul explained. "It also is supportive in recruiting teachers and also retaining teachers in the profession."

In this year's legislative session, education got a smaller funding increase of 1.25%, falling behind inflation. Paul cautioned it could mean South Dakota will slide back in future rankings. The smaller bump came as part of a "belt tightening" mood at the State Capitol this year, with uncertainty over federal funding and declines in sales tax revenue.

Educators said they understand the budget challenges facing South Dakota but Paul contended taking the foot off the accelerator only puts the state in a troubling pattern it has been trying to shake off.

"It has to be year after year," Paul stressed. "It's not a, 'Oh, we're going to address this for a year or two, and then we're going to fall back into very small increases,' or no increases, or actually going backwards."

He added when shrinking investments cause a state to tumble in rankings, public pressure goes back up because no state wants to be seen as holding the last spot.

The union noted when adjusted for inflation, teachers in many parts of the country still make less than they did a decade ago, and if they cannot afford to cover basic expenses, some will choose to leave the profession.

Wyoming labor unions will gather Thursday in Casper in honor of May Day, a holiday celebrated in 80 countries commemorating the labor movement and promoting workers' rights.

Dirk Andrews, vice president of the Wyoming Education Association and an organizer for the event, said he is not only expecting teachers, but also AFL-CIO labor organizers, postal workers, firefighters and unionized writers and grocery store workers. Everyone is invited, Andrews added.

"Our mission really is just to try and unite our working class across Wyoming," Andrews explained. "We're the ones that are working in the fields every single day. Doing the hard work and making sure that we're serving our community."

Andrews noted the event is family-friendly and there will be summer learning kits and treats for children. The Casper rally will take place May 1 at 5 p.m. in Healing Park.

Several bills passing the Wyoming Legislature this session will affect labor groups. Those affecting teachers include one expanding the state's education savings accounts, or voucher program, and another repealing gun-free zones in the state, including its schools.

Andrews stressed the Wyoming Education Association's focus is less on legislation and more on education.

"Really our focus is ensuring that public education is fully funded, that we're doing what's best for our students on a daily basis, that we have buildings and all of those things that are helping our students learn to the best of their ability," Andrews outlined.

Andrews hopes the rally will "bring the working class together," he added, to "do better for everybody."


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By Anna Gustafson for the Pennsylvania Independent.
Broadcast version by Danielle Smith for Keystone State News Connection reporting for the Pennsylvania Independent-Public News Service Collaboration

It was the second week of April, and Beau Baden didn’t have time to think about tariffs. 

While President Donald Trump’s chaotic on-again, off-again rollout of tariffs on imported goods were indeed weighing on Baden, he was busy getting ready for the fourth anniversary of Sherman Street Beer Company, the Allentown brewery he opened in 2021 after dreaming about owning his own place for decades.

Baden says he expects he’ll likely have to pay more for the hops he imports from all over the world and the aluminum cans that are essential to his business as a result of Trump’s planned tariffs, which are taxes on imported goods and services paid to the federal government by the businesses or consumers that are importing them.

But in the days leading up to the anniversary celebration, he was thinking more about the upcoming event’s beer, food and Mrs. Roper Romp, when community members don their best curly red wigs in honor of the beloved minor character from the television sitcom “Three’s Company.”

“When all this is happening, we’re getting ready for a fourth anniversary,” Baden said in an interview on April 15, following the celebration. “I’m stressing about that more than I’m worried about anything else. We’ve got a lot of people that are going to be coming into our building, coming to our place. We want to make sure things are right and people have a good time and everything like that.” 

It was indeed a good time, Baden said. There were Mrs. Ropers galore, and the brewery was packed with people drinking newly released beers, having a pig roast, and eating Maryland crab pretzels. 

Then reality hit. 

“I wasn’t that worried. Now, today, as 20,000 cans showed up, I’m worried about that bill,” Baden said. 

He has yet to see the invoice, but Baden expects there to be an increase after Trump imposed a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum entering the United States that went into effect on March 12.

It’s not just the cans he’s worried about. Baden, whose brewery employs 10 people, imports hops and malt from countries around the globe, and while he doesn’t currently need brewing equipment, that too would likely come from other countries when he did.

Trump’s rollout of tariffs has left business owners like Baden not only worried about the financial impact of the taxes on imports but often unclear as to what imports will be or are being taxed. 

“I keep up in the mornings and, then, by the afternoon, I’m completely confused that what I heard in the morning is not the same as what’s going on in the afternoon,” Baden said. “It’s all anecdotal right now, but at the end of the day, any cost increase for us is not great. Breweries, like restaurants, you work on slim margins.”

After announcing increased tariff rates for goods from most of the world on April 2, including major trade partners like the European Union and China (as well as islands inhabited by penguins and no humans), Trump ended up temporarily reducing most of those rates after stock markets tanked. He said he planned a 90-day pause on implementing the tariffs originally announced on April 2, a day Trump called “Liberation Day.”

He went on to implement a 10% tariff rate on most imports coming into the U.S., a lower rate than was originally announced for many countries’ goods but one that economists say will still hurt U.S. businesses and consumers.

Trump has also escalated the trade war with China. He increased the tariff rate from 104% to 125% on most goods from China, which retaliated with higher tariffs for U.S. goods. China is the United States’ third-largest export market after Canada and Mexico. The U.S., meanwhile, is China’s top export market.

Economists explain that the increased costs business owners face due to tariffs are often passed on to consumers, who may soon be paying more for a wide range of goods, including coffee and fruit, cars, lumber, and pharmaceuticals. Because the U.S. doesn’t have the infrastructure to immediately, or ever, begin making and distributing many of the items it imports, business leaders and economists warn of impending shortages of goods like generic drugs and electronics. 

While the Trump administration says tariffs will lead to companies moving operations to the U.S. and an increase in the number of manufacturing jobs, experts say that isn’t actually the case. A CNBC survey of businesses found that if companies did increase the number of manufacturing jobs in the U.S., they would use automation and not humans in those positions.

Economic pain for Pennsylvania’s breweries

Baden is far from the only brewery owner who’s worried about tariffs. Brewery owners throughout the state say the current and possible future tariffs are causing financial concerns for Pennsylvania’s craft beer industry.

About 530 craft breweries make their home in Pennsylvania, which has the third-highest number of craft breweries in the country, according to 2023 data from the Brewers Association, a trade group. Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration recently reported that the commonwealth’s ranking has risen and that the state is now the second-largest craft beer producer in the country.

Small-brewery owners facing increased costs for cans and other goods may have to increase the prices of beer they sell to their consumers, business owners told the Pennsylvania Independent. However, following the inflation that stemmed from supply chain disruptions during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and with the possibility of a coming economic recession, owners said they’re not sure how much of a price increase consumers will accept, leaving breweries to figure out how much they will potentially be able to absorb in costs.

“We’re going to have to probably eat it for this year, for 2025, and then reevaluate going into 2026, whether it’s talk to our partners, our contract partners, and explain what situation we’re in and what we need to do, how do we become more efficient?” Baden said. “You don’t want to change the product to make an inferior product, so there’s not a lot of wiggle room on that end. We’ll see — are we in a recession or not a recession? We don’t know yet.”

Jeff Fegley, the owner of Brew Works in Bethlehem, said he’s worried about the financial hit tariffs his business could take. Fegley’s is a brewery and restaurant that’s helped to revitalize downtown Bethlehem in the wake of the decline of the steel industry that once dominated the area. Fegley also owns a Brew Works in Allentown.

Fegley said he’s holding out hope that the Trump administration won’t further raise tariff rates. If it does, small businesses like his will suffer, Fegley said. 

“I hope they can get through this because the consumer ultimately is going to pay,” Fegley said. “We can’t absorb it all. So we’ll have to raise prices. And I think right now, the restaurant industry as a whole is seeing kind of flat sales. If these tariffs continue, I can see it declining, restaurants declining in sales because people will be less likely to go out and spend as much as they would if they didn’t have this increase in costs.”

For now, Fegley said, they’re waiting to see what happens at the end of Trump’s 90-day pause on significantly increased tariffs.

Fred Maier, the co-founder and vice president of Susquehanna Brewing Company in Pittston and the president of the Brewers of Pennsylvania, a trade association, also lamented the economic uncertainty. Just last year, he was hopeful that the industry’s finances were finally steadying after a rocky period due to the pandemic. Then the new administration took office.

“2024 was the first year that supply chain was normal,” Maier said. “I knew when I ordered something what it was going to cost me in one month or three months from now. It was wonderful.”

“I kind of stuck my foot in my mouth saying, You know what? Everything’s pretty steady,” Maier continued. “And that was in the beginning of January. I’m like, I’m not seeing anything major this year. And four weeks later, it all started.”


Anna Gustafson wrote this article for the Pennsylvania Independent.


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