Great news out of Missouri. The spokesperson for Senate
President Pro Tem Tom Dempsey (R-St. Charles) said right-to-work-for-less
legislation is dead for the year. Well, he didn’t use those words, exactly. He
sounded kinda glum, probably because he’s one of the Missouri politicians who
has pushed the corporate-backed measure.
Gov. Jay Nixon has said
he’d veto any right-to-work legislation that came across his desk, so the
Republican-dominated legislature decided to shelve it…for now. Here’s
more from a CBS affiliate in St. Louis:
While a
pro-business agenda has been fast-tracked by Missouri’s Republican-controlled
General Assembly this session, one issue has been pushed to the sidelines.
An effort
to let workers refuse to join or pay dues to a union appears to have stalled
once again. The chance of what supporters often call “right to work” getting to
the floor in either chamber appears slim.
The article also spotlights something that doesn’t get nearly
enough attention in stories about this subject: that many businesses oppose
right to work.
Emily
Martin, president of Aschinger Electric, said she’d declined to join the
Missouri Chamber of Commerce because of its support for right to work.
Aschinger Electric is an electrical contracting firm based in St. Louis. She
said her company has been unionized since it started.
“It’s a
business decision as to whether I want to contract with organized labor,”
Martin said. “In our work with our skilled trades, there are benefits to
contracting with unions.”
She said
the unions invest in training and provide a pool of skilled labor to draw on
when the company needs to expand.
The
Associated General Contractors of St. Louis also opposes the legislation.
President Len Toenjes said the passage of such legislation would put members’
current union contracts at risk and could cost them millions and even force
them to shut down.
“Many of
our contractors have existing multi-year labor agreements,” Toenjes said. “In
the short term there will be potential for a lot of out-of-state competition
coming in. The potential would be to harm businesses that have been in St.
Louis for decades.”
