Earlier this week, Missouri’s Governor Eric Greitens signed legislation making Missouri the 28th state to pass Right to Work legislation. New Hampshire is considering legislation that, if passed, will be signed by its Republican governor, Chris Sununu, making it the 29th state. Right to Work is, of course, legislation permitted under the Labor Management Relations Act that prohibits unions from requiring bargaining unit employees to pay union dues or dues equivalents. Under current law, employees in states without right to work laws may be required either to join and remain members of the union representing them (paying the normal dues), or to pay the union what are called “Fair Share Fees”. These Fair Share Fees are calculated to be the union’s cost of representing employees in the bargaining unit, without inclusion of extraneous amounts included in the dues amount, such as political donations to candidates. Unions obviously prefer to have all employees contributing to their operations and political endeavors, and the number of employees opting out in non-RTW states is generally far less than the percentage opting out in RTW areas. Unions must represent all bargaining unit members fairly, even without receiving any payments from those in RTW states who chose not to pay. Employers generally support RTW efforts, since unions receive less funding and are weaker than otherwise. Employees prefer RTW since they have the choice of joining the union if they want, or staying out of it, even if there is a union present in the workplace. They can be “free-riders”—benefitting from any results of union bargaining but without paying anything to the union.
States have been the focus of RTW legislation in recent years, with Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin all passing laws in the heartland. Wisconsin’s law has encountered still-pending challenges from unions on the basis that it forces unions into a position of involuntary servitude by having to represent dissenters. It survived a federal district court decision, now appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit (which upheld Indiana’s RTW law), and was found unconstitutional under Wisconsin’s Constitution by a local county judge, whose decision is now on appeal at the district level.
An additional front is being opened in the RTW war. U.S. Representatives Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Steve King (R-IA) have introduced the National Right to Work Act, HR 785, which would make Right to Work the uniform law in the U.S. The law faces opposition from the labor movement, and would almost certainly encounter a filibuster in the Senate. Given the number of Democratic senators in states that have adopted RTW laws, it is likely that the House will pass the bill and send it to the Senate. This would force RTW state Democrats up for re-election in 2018 to take a position on the bill. Then, depending upon how the midterm elections turn out, the opportunity for Senate passage might increase, or passage could be foreclosed for at least another two years.