Political analyst weighs in on Right-to-Work and what's next for Wisconsin



BROWN DEER (WITI) -- Now that a Right-to-Work law is a certainty for Wisconsin, what can be predicted about the state's future?

The governor plans to sign the bill into law at Badger Meter on Monday morning. You've likely heard a wide range of statistics about what the new law will mean for Wisconsin -- both good and bad.

FOX6 News spoke with a UWM Political Analyst to help us wade through those arguments.

Depending on whom you asked, a new so-called Right-to-Work law may either bring about an economic boom for the Badger state--or start a downward spiral.

"We already saw one and that's Badger Meter that said if we were able to get Right-to-Work passed they're looking to bring a hundred jobs. So I guess I would say that's the first example of the positive benefits that will happen," said Assembly Speaker, Robin Vos.

".....Just how disastrous of a policy this will be for the middle class, wages we believe will go down," said Assembly Minority Leader, Peter Barca.

As the debate has raged over Right-to-Work legislation, it seems like both sides have cherry-picked statistics to support their positions.

FOX6 News wanted to know how credible those arguments are, so we sat down with UWM Professor Mordecai Lee.

"Most of those studies would be thrown out in a graduate seminar that I teach. Some of them are a little better than others but the major problem is that it's so hard to isolate one factor. In other words this state lost jobs because of, only because of, Right-to-Work. Or this state gained jobs only because of Right-to-Work, there's just too much going on," said Professor Lee.

Anyone who claims to have a crystal ball predicting Right-to-Work impact on the state's future is probably pulling your leg. Professor Lee says the whole fight isn't even really about job creation, it's about ideology.

"It's not going to create new jobs, it's not going to destroy new jobs, it's just that this is a better world in the value system of republicans and a worse world in the value system of democrats," said Professor Lee.

And again, Governor Scott Walker still needs to sign the bill to make it law. That's expected to happen on Monday morning, March 9th.