We must make California a right-to-work state.

A "right-to-work" law is a statute that prohibits union security agreements, or agreements between labor unions and employers that govern the extent to which an established union can require employees' membership, payment of union dues, or fees as a condition of employment, either before or after hiring.

Right-to-work laws exist in 23 U.S. states. Such laws are allowed under the 1947 federal Taft-Hartley Act.

A couple of related facts:

1) Between 2000 and 2008 one person per minute left a non right-to-work state and moved to a right-to-work state.

2) California until early 2010 had a manufacturing plant that assembled Toyota Corollas. Corolla manufacturing did not move to China. It moved to a new Toyota manufacturing facility in Mississippi. There are eight Toyota manufacturing plants in the United States (all in right-to-work states) that manufacture Toyota vehicles and engines.

A right-to-work state does not ban unions. Unions can and many times do still exist but they must survive based on their merit to the workers. The workers are not forced to pay union dues nor support a union as a condition of employment.

California needs to attract and keep businesses and jobs to financially survive. And to fund our extensive environmental protection desires. We need to keep workers not just welfare recipients.

It will be a difficult battle as unions fund most of the previously golden states democratic legislators, but we must use the upcoming November election to bring the jobs back to California. Please spread the word.

Ed Calkins lives in Kelseyville, Calif.