House could vote on anti-worker measure at any time
Jefferson City – The Missouri House of Representatives took a first vote on the right-to-work (RTW) House Bill (HB 1770) earlier this month, but because of strong union opposition and outreach by rank-and-file union members to representatives on both sides of the aisle the measure failed to move out of the House.
With bipartisan opposition, HB 1770 fell four votes shy of the 82 votes needed to advance to the Senate.
RTW sponsor Eric Burlison (R-Springfield), and Speaker Tim Jones (R-Eureka), have said they were optimistic about persuading four of the 30 Republicans who didn’t support RTW to switch their votes before the session ends May 16.
The possibility of passing the measure has spurred extremists and special interests in Washington – including ALEC, Grover Norquist and the Koch Brothers – to put additional pressure on Missouri lawmakers.
PRESSURE IS ON
Jeff Aboussie, executive secretary-treasurer of the St. Louis Building and Construction Trades Council, spent much of the past week in Jefferson City lobbying against the measure.
He said the fact that RTW hadn’t come up for another vote by the end of the week was telling.
“There’s a lot of people that feel RTW is not the right tool for economic development in Missouri,” Aboussie said.
“The pressure is in the Republican Party. I think Labor has done a great job this year of providing real statistics to show RTW is not the economic tool it’s portrayed as.”
MAKE YOURSELF HEARD
With only four votes needed to make the difference, it’s more critical than ever that representatives hear from working families.
Let your legislator know that right-to-work will hurt you, your family and Missouri’s economy.
Call 888-825-1418 to be connected to your legislator.
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