BACKGROUND-- Washington is among the 28 states that have no "Right-to-Work" law.

These laws ban collectively bargained union-security agreements that require workers to pay for union representation. In other words, in "Right-to-Work" states, workers cannot negotiate contract provisions insisting all employees covered under that contract join the union (referred to as a "union shop.")

According to a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court decision: "A union shop arrangement has been thought to distribute fairly the cost of these (representative) activities among those who benefit, and it counteracts the incentive that employees might otherwise have to become ‘free riders’ — to refuse to contribute to the union while obtaining benefits of union representation that necessarily accrue to all employees."

The idea is that everyone benefits from the contract and its protections, so everyone should pay their fair share of the costs of union representation.