A Republican state representative from Springfield last month filed a right-to-work bill, and the initiative has drawn overflow crowds during its two February committee hearings including both state House and Senate leadership.
Eric Burlison’s bill, dubbed The Freedom to Work Act, would allow employees to retain employment at companies where unions are in place without being required to pay union dues.
“In Springfield, when I talk to the business community – from small businesses on up to large businesses – and you ask what we can do to do bring jobs to the area and they say the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 things to do are right-to-work, then you know if you’re going to represent southwest Missouri and Springfield that’s what you’ve got to champion,” Burlison said.
Labor organizers strongly oppose the idea of House Bill 77 and could influence its trajectory, even with hefty Republican majorities in both the House and Senate.
Nationwide, support of the issue is largely partisan with left-leaning groups such as the Progress Now Network saying the right-to-work movement is an attack on collective bargaining and conservative organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council promoting the legislation.
In December, highly unionized Michigan became the 24th right-to-work state, despite national leaders such as President Barack Obama, who opposes right-to-work legislation, converging on the state to influence the process.
Burlison said if majority leadership feels it can pass the measure, but not overcome Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon’s expected veto, then the bill would be changed into a resolution that would likely go to voters in 2014.
Jim Kabell, secretary and treasurer for Teamsters Union, Local 245 in Springfield and division president of 40,000 Teamsters union members across Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, said workers make less money in states with right-to-work laws in place. He added benefits among workers in those states are generally valued below those in states that support unions.
According to U.S. Labor Department and Census Bureau data, workers in right-to-work states make an average of $5,500 less than their union-state counterparts.
“We need to take Missouri forward, not backwards. Rep. Burlison just doesn’t get it,” Kabell said.
Burlison argues job growth in “freedom-to-work” states outpaces those in union-shop states.
While workers in union states generally boast of higher wages, those states with right-to-work laws in place are seeing their workers’ wages grow at a faster pace. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2001 and 2011, compensation in the private sector grew in right-to-work states by 12 percent, while wages only increased by 3 percent in other states.
With six of Missouri’s eight bordering states now having right-to-work laws in place, Burlison said it’s important the Show-Me State compete with its neighbors.
Burlison said he isn’t opposed to unions and feels this initiative could strengthen them by giving employees more power. He uses an analogy of the dynamic between consumers and private businesses.
“If you had to eat at a restaurant where managers knew no matter how good or bad they were you had to pay them for service, then they would have little desire to provide good service,” Burlison said.
In the same way, he said if union dues are guaranteed, then union managers have little incentive to fight for better wages and benefits for the workers they represent.
“I think individual workers will see a tremendous difference when unions have to work harder to benefit them,” Burlison added.
Kabell vehemently denies Burlison’s claim. “It weakens the bargaining power of unions,” Kabell said.
He said federal law requires unions represent all workers at companies where unions bargain for higher wages and benefits, which means Burlison’s bill would effectively allow workers to enjoy the benefits of a union without paying union dues.
Burlison said public unions through organizations such as the Greene County Medical Society already can’t require participation from medical professionals, and they are still around. Similarly, he said education groups such as the Missouri State Teachers Association are successful despite the fact they can’t require teachers to pay member dues.
According to the BLS, Missouri workers held a mean annual wage in 2012 of $40,500, which is above its nonunion shop neighbors in Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Tennessee.
Burlison said straight wage comparisons are tricky, however, because jobs in New York, for example, generally pay more to compensate for higher costs of living.
Missouri does have a higher cost of living than its right-to-work neighbors, except for Iowa, according to MissouriPartnership.com. Based on a U.S. average of 100 for the cost of housing, utilities, transportation, gas, groceries and health care in the third quarter of 2012, Missouri held an index score of 92.4, while right-to-work state Iowa has a higher cost of living with a 93.7 index.
Before the bill’s second committee hearing on Feb. 13, Burlison said House Speaker Tim Jones, R-Eureka, has committed to bringing the measure, HB 77, to the floor once it received a committee vote. However, no action was scheduled for the bill as of Feb. 14, according to
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