Nearly half of US states have adopted labor laws known as right-to-work laws. These laws have recently become established in traditionally union-strong states, and they allow companies to employ individuals without a mandate that the employees be union members. Labor and right-to-work laws have been in the spotlight through ongoing Boeing and Department of Justice saga, which involves South Carolina and Washington. Boeing has abandoned its factory in Seattle for the favorable right-to-work law state of South Carolina, prompting a debate as to whether states without right-to-work laws like Washington need those laws to keep up economically with right-to-work states. The Department of Justice has attempted to prevent Boeing from relocating and the battle highlights the importance of right-to-work laws and states that have adopted them.