Actually, Tiffany, the term "Right to Work" has to do with the state's laws about unions, not the minimum wage. In some states, if a certain kind of worker, e.g., an electrician, is represented by a union bargaining agreement then one must join the union and pay dues* in order to be employed in that capacity. In a "Right to Work" state the electrician would not have to join the union in order to work as an electrician. In other words, in a "Right to Work" state the law doesn't force him or her to join the union.Another note...they call this a Right to Work state..that means these elite farmers and industrial hotshots here can pay below minimum wage (which is .50 an hour until the recent Fed bringing it up), here and get away with it.
*There is another variation in some non-right to work states where the worker doesn't have to actually join the union but still has to pay dues to the union. In this case most people join so that they will at least be able to vote on union issues like strikes.
There is a federal minimum wage law that says everyone doing any covered work (some jobs are exempt) must be paid at least a certain amount. The feds increase this amount from time to time. States are freee to pass their own minimum wage laws too, but they can't be lower than the federal amount. They can be the same or higher. This law has nothing to do with unions, which are covered by the National Labor Relations Act as amended in 1947.
