National RTW group files lawsuit to stop public vote, your voice on RTW issue

Calls ballot issue ‘misleading,’ ignoring irony from group that created phony RTW slogan

By ED FINKELSTEIN

Publisher

It what can only be described as the height of hypocrisy, the National Right-to-Work Committee (NRTWC) has filed lawsuits saying the wording of several constitutional amendment petitions calling for a public vote on “right-to-work” is “misleading.”

This from the group that coined the world’s most misleading, inaccurate and deceptive phrase ever: “right-to-work.”

The constitutional amendment is designed to let the public decide whether or not RTW should be law in Missouri. It will repeal the RTW law approved by the Missouri Legislature.

AFRAID OF PUBLIC VOTE

Afraid of a public vote, the Republican-controlled Missouri legislature rejected efforts by all Democrats but one — Courtney Curtis, (D-St. Louis) — and some worker-friendly Republicans to set up an election on the RTW issue, thus denying Missouri voters a voice in the matter that will drastically impact their paychecks and their way of life.

In clear, simple language, the ballot initiatives filed by the Missouri AFL-CIO says:

“That employees shall have the right to organize and to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing. No law or ordinance shall restrict or impair an agreement which requires employees to support their chosen collective bargaining representative.”

It its lawsuit, the NRTWC has the gall to say that the language is misleading as it allegedly “fraudulently presents itself as an ‘employees’ rights proposition’ when it only protects those organized in labor unions, not employees who ‘choose to withhold their support.’”

“It impacts ALL employees, those who want to join the union and those who do not,” said Missouri AFL-CIO President Mike Louis. “At the get-go, their argument is, like RTW itself, deceptive.

RTW: A TRICK

“If there was ever a misleading statement, it’s ‘right-to-work,’ which has absolutely nothing to do with a person’s right to a job or his or her right to work, but is designed to trick people into believing something that it’s not,” Louis added.

Tongue-in-cheek, Louis added: “The next thing you know, they’ll want to protest the truth on the bumper stickers ‘Right-to-work is a RIPOFF,’ which we all know it is.

“Why is a DC-based special interest group, funded by the uber-rich, challenging the rights of hard-working Missourians to have their voices heard at the ballot box? Missouri voters wanted to see the swamp drained. That means putting the power back with the people. This attack on the ballot language filed by an elected representative of Missouri’s working families is nothing more than an attempt by a dark money group to expand the swamp into our great state,” Louis said after the legal challenge was filed.

The Missouri AFL-CIO has won approval for the wording on nine similar ballot initiatives, with approval granted by Secretary-of-State Jason Kander before he left office.

BIG MONEY INFLUENCE AT WORK

The lawsuit is being financed by the dark-money group, the National Right to Work Legal Foundation in Springfield, VA. They found a Kansas City nurse and two Kansas City police officers to serve as lawsuit sponsors.