"Right to Work" passes Senate committee

A Senate committee approved legislation to prohibit forcing workers to pay union service fees, which supporters call "right to work."

The Senate General Laws Committee passed the bill on a party-line vote, with six Republicans voting for it and two Democrats against. One of the two "no" votes came from Sen. Robin Wright-Jones, D-St. Louis.

"Union workers have been the backbone of this country to build it -- in the modern industrial age and they also have been the middle class. And all of that is under siege," said Jones, a member of the Communications Workers of America Union. "We don't need anything to change or make it difficult for us to represent the worker."

Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-St. Louis County, supported the bill. She and others say the legislation would make Missouri more attractive to businesses looking to relocate, and that would bring down the state's 9.5 percent unemployment rate. Missouri is in the worst one-third of U.S. states in joblessness.

"If we have 'right to work,' (businesses) look further, if we don't have right to work, they don't even look at us anymore," Cunningham said. "That was very deciding for me."

Supporters of "right to work" say the state's current law puts Missouri at a disadvantage with neighboring states including Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee that prohibit union service fee requirements.

Opponents, however, argue that without the service fee requirements, non-union workers enjoy the benefits of contracts negotiated by organized labor without helping pay the cost.

"I think we need 'right to work,'" said Sen. Brian Munzlinger, R-Williamstown. "It is something that if you look at other states where it is, the industries look to move to those states."

With Tennessee being the exception, all of Missouri's other bordering states with "right to work" measures have higher employment rates. Tennessee added jobs in 2010, whereas Missouri lost jobs, according to information from the Census Bureau cited by the Senate's "right to work" bill sponsor, Sen. Luann Ridgeway, R-Smithville.

"Every one of those 'right to work' states picked up population and has a lower unemployment rate than the non right to work states," Ridgeway said. "We have got to turn this situation around for the approximately 10 percent of Missourians who want to work but can't find jobs."

Ridgeway cited that 50 percent of manufacturing jobs that seek site locations and expansion specifically request locations in "right to work" states. She said more employment opportunities will come to Missouri if it enacts the measure.