On February 6th Missouri’s Governor signed a bill making the state a Right to Work state. Missouri thus becomes the 28th state to join the ranks of the states that have chosen to provide the freedom of employers and employees to enter into a relationship without the employee being forced to join a union or pay union dues.
There will be push back by Missouri unions who plan to use the referendum process to overturn the law. Whether that effort will be successful would appear doubtful in light of the recent election results. The Governor ran on a platform that pledged to work for and sign the Right to Work bill.
The law goes into effect in August unless the union can get the required signatures to hold a vote on the issue. If they are successful, the law cannot go into effect until after a vote is held in 2018.
Ohio Republican legislators want to adopt Right to Work but the Governor seems intransigent on the issue. Still, Ohio and New Hampshire would appear to be the next two likely states to pass Right to Work. Oddly, Alaska and Montana are not Right to Work but tend to support Republicans in presidential elections. There seems to be little pressure in those states to push the issue. Presumably it is not a big factor in the economic health of those states.
That is not the case in Pennsylvania. The problems created by pro-union policies, especially the power that has been given to public sector unions, are a major drag on the state’s economy. Right to Work is badly needed in the Commonwealth.
