As used here, compulsory union or union security agreements are federally sanctioned contracts between a labor union and employer whereby the employer agrees to require his employees, as a condition of their employment, to affiliate with the union in some way. Right-to-work is usually construed to mean the liberty of the individual to have a job free from the requirement that he become a member of or be affiliated with a labor organization. The legal equilibrium that presently exists between these two positions is statutory in origin. The primary regulation comes from the Labor Management Relations Act--the Taft-Hartley Act. The Taft-Hartley Act allows the state to pass right-to-work laws except in areas that would conflict with it or with the Railway Labor Act. The controversy between union security and right-to-work laws raises significant concerns including the fundamental issue of the circumstances, if any, under which individual rights and interests can be subordinated to that of the group; constitutional law issues; questions about the proper relationship between Federal and State legislative power; and, when public employees are considered, the concept of democratic government. (Author/IRT)