united-states employment civil-law corporate-law
What are &quot;non-union states&quot;?
<p>I'm watching a lecture by Robert B Reich.</p>

<p>He's talking about a hypothetical case in which Bob, a CEO of some corporation, wants to "move the US plant to a non-union state" to reduce wages.</p>

<p>I understand that the benefit, for employers, is that since employees aren't organized in a union, they have less bargaining power over their employers.</p>

<p>My question is:</p>

<p>What are "non-union states"?</p>

<p>Are these states (in the US) that don't allow workers to unionize? But I've read that there's a "National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)" that guarantees the right of workers to unionize, so this can't be...</p>

<p>You may want to ask Reich what he personally was talking about. There is a distinction within the US between states which prohibit mandatory union membership versus allow mandatory union membership. In about half of the states, a union cannot force an employer to accept a contract which obligates that a person join the union. These are known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right-to-work_law" rel="noreferrer">right-to-work laws</a>. No state requires all workers to join a union, and no state forbids the formation of unions.</p>
