Huge Teamster turnout at pro-worker, anti-RTW4Less rally in Missouri

Teamsters at today's rally.

A large contingent of Teamsters joined well over 3,000 workers in Jefferson City today to rally against right-to-work and paycheck deception bills before the Missouri Legislature.

Secretary of State Jason Kander looked out at the huge crowd and said he felt like the cavalry arrived.

Extremists backed by ALEC are pushing the unfair, anti-worker legislation. Fortunately, there is bipartisan opposition to it. Republican and Democratic lawmakers spoke to the working people standing in front of the state capitol. Their message: lawmakers need to get their priorities straight and work on creating good jobs.

Clint Zweifel

Gov. Jay Nixon, who vetoed a right-to-work-for-less bill last year, spoke to the crowd. He said if a right-to-work bill reaches his desk he'll veto it again. And if it's put on the ballot, he pledged to stand with union to beat it again.

"Instead of putting forth bills that support the middle class, some here in the Missouri Legislature are putting forth bills to destroy it," Nixon said.

Our Teamster brother Clint Zweifel, Missouri state treasurer, also spoke. He described the advantages of unions.

Having a union is about opening up a door of opportunity for all of us. Having a union gives you a voice at work and it gives you a voice in our larger economy. Having a union makes sure people who build a community can afford to live in a community...Having a union means you're optimistic about your future because you have a voice. 

Zweifel said unions let parents spend times coaching soccer teams or leading scout troops instead of taking two jobs just to make ends week. His father and grandfather were union carpenters, and he remembers a sticker on his dad's lunchbox. It said,

Right to work is a ripoff. 

Watch the rally at the Statehouse here.