Americans for Prosperity littering Missouri mailboxes with RTW lies

By TIM ROWDEN

Editor

Americans for Prosperity, the Koch Brothers’-funded anti-working families, anti-union advocacy group, has been littering Missouri mailboxes with fliers promoting the bogus benefits of so-called “right-to-work” in an apparent attempt to discourage Missouri voters from signing the Citizens’ Referendum petition to repeal “right-to-work” (RTW) and place it on the 2018 ballot to let voters, and not corrupt, paid-for politicians decide.

The mailings claim:

• “Right-to-work increases worker freedom.”

LIE: The only “freedom” RTW increases is the freedom of bosses to silence workers and drive down wages.

• “Thanks to right-to-work Missouri workers cannot be forced to join a union or pay union dues.”

MORE LIES: Federal law – not RTW – prevents anyone from being forced to join a union. In addition, no one working in a union represented shop is forced to pay union dues, only a fair share fee to cover the union’s cost of bargaining and representation.

WHAT THEY DON’T SAY

The fliers, of course, leave out the part about unions having to represent ALL WORKERS in a bargaining unit, not just dues paying members.

The fliers don’t mention that “right-to-work” states have LOWER WAGES for ALL WORKERS.

They don’t explain that “worker freedom” under “right-to-work” means FREEDOM TO FREELOAD, enjoying the pay, benefits and protections of a union-negotiated contract without spending one red cent to support the union.

SECOND ROUND

A second round of fliers asks:

• “Who should decide what’s best for Missouri workers?” 

This is actually a legitimate, if ironic, question. The answer, of course, is that workers, not bought-and-paid-for-politicians, should decide whether RTW should be law in Missouri.

TRYING TO CONFUSE VOTERS

“Out-of-state corporate interests are trying to confuse Missouri voters about the real harm ‘right-to-work’ will have for them – whether or not they belong to a union,” said Mike Louis, president of the Missouri AFL-CIO.

We Are Missouri, the campaign to repeal the so-called “right-to-work” bill passed by the Republican-led Missouri Legislature and signed by Governor Eric Greitens, by placing the measure on the ballot, is well under way.

Tens of thousands of signatures have been collected, but more are needed, and Missouri voters will have to be educated to vote against the anti-worker law once it is placed on the ballot

“The men and women of the Labor Movement know so-called ‘right-to-work’ has nothing do to with worker freedom or providing any rights on the job,” Louis said.

“But Missouri voters need to be educated. We need to be talking to our family, friends and neighbors about the real harm this law will have for them and their families, because the dark money corporate interests aren’t about to risk their pet anti-worker law going down without a fight.”

Americans for Prosperity, funded by the billionaire Koch Brothers, has limitless amounts of cash, so these types of fliers are likely to be littering our mailboxes all summer.