Monday, April 7, 2014

Koch brothers pushing RTW4Less in Missouri

The Benedict Arnold Koch brothers have Missouri workers in their crosshairs this week as a right-to-work-for-less bill will come to a vote Wednesday.
Teamsters at a recent Missouri Statehouse rally against
RTW4Less

There is strong bipartisan opposition to this bill, though supporters are hoping it's confusing enough that they can argue it's something workers want. It isn't.

It's something the Koch brothers want so they can eliminate unions and rig the game even more in their favor. That's why a slew of Koch-linked groups are in Missouri today, pressuring House Speaker Tim Jones to put right-to-work-for-less to a vote. 

Here's a list of the Koch-supported, Koch-linked groups and what they're doing (though you know money is also involved):
  • ALEC (no surprise there, right?), which provided model Paycheck Deception and right-to-work-for-less bills; also brought Missouri lawmakers together with corporations behind closed doors to pressure them into voting for the bills. 
  • Americans for Prosperity-Missouri held a meeting in the Statehouse urging support of right-to-work-for-less and launched a RTW4Less petition.
  • FreedomWorks, which is targeting Republicans who are “wary” of RTW4Less, asking members to call them and urge them to support the bill.
  • National Right to Work Committee sent a newsletter citing unions as a deterrent to job growth in Missouri and testified at RTW4Less hearings. 
  • Mackinac Institute (Michigan-based stink tank) provided testimony at RTW hearings. Mackinac was the major force behind RTW in Michigan, and is often used as “right to work experts” within the State Policy Network.
Also involved are a couple of other groups grifting off of billionaires and corporations that would like to wipe out unions: 
  • Americans for Tax Reform/Grover Norquist sent letters to all Missouri legislators urging them to vote for RTW4Less during the week of April 4th. Norquist tweeted that the MO House would vote on RTW before it was publically announced by the legislative leadership on April 2nd 
  • American Conservative Union announced it would be sending letters to Missouri legislators urging them to vote in favor of Right to Work on April 3rd.
  • Americans for Limited Government (love the name, since they're advocating government interference in the employer-employee relationship) urged the passing of Right to Work in press release on April 1st.
We've got a battle on our hands, brothers and sisters, and the enemy is well-funded.