Missouri Residents on Tuesday shot down a Ballot Measure that would have Implemented a Right-to-Work Law the State's former Governor Signed in 2017, rebuking efforts by the State’s Republican Leaders to let Workers Stop Paying Fees to their Unions and delivering the Labor Movement a Win. About two-thirds of Voters Opposed Proposition A is seen as a Referendum on Public Support for Unions, according to a Preliminary Tally posted on the Missouri State Department’s website late Tuesday.
After a succession of Political Setbacks in onetime Strongholds and a Landmark Defeat in the Supreme Court, Organized Labor has notched a Hard-Won Victory as Missouri Voters Overrode a Legislative move to Curb Union Power. Labor Leaders argued that the rare opportunity for Voters to weigh in directly on a Right-to-Work Measure, which several States have Passed in recent years, revealed how little Public Support the Policy has.
“It shows how out of touch those institutions are,” said Richard Trumka, President of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. “How out of touch the Republican legislature in Missouri is, how out of touch the Supreme Court is.” But Jake Rosenfeld, a Sociologist who Studies Unions at Washington University in St. Louis, cautioned against overstating the Victory. A mere 8.7% of Workers in Missouri were Union Members last year, below the National Average and down from more than 13% a Decade-and-a-half ago. “A ‘win’ just returns the situation to the status quo,” Rosenfeld said by email, though he acknowledged that it was “a huge morale boost to a beleaguered movement.”
The Victory in Missouri aligns with other tentative signs of a Labor Revival. Among them are Polls showing rising Popular Support for Unions and an uptick in Membership in Teachers’ Unions after Walkouts in Several States during the past school year. The examples of Michigan and Indiana, where Right-to-Work Laws took effect earlier this Decade, suggest that the legislation could have cost unions thousands of members and millions in revenue. “I think this will build momentum and send a message to all legislators,” Trumka said, “that if you vote against the people, go against the will of the vast majority of working Americans, it’s going to cost you.”
But it was not immediately clear that the forces driving the impressive showing for Labor in Missouri could be reproduced elsewhere. One reason is that Republican Voters who buck their Party on a Ballot Measure, as many appeared to do in Missouri, may be unwilling to Vote against Republican Candidates in a General Election, even when those Candidates are hostile to Labor. “There’s a big difference between overturning the law itself and defeating legislators who supported it,” said Jonathon Prouty, a Missouri Political Consultant and former Executive Director of the State’s Republican Party. “It’s a lot easier for unions to energize their base around the issue, which is right to work, rather than against candidates.”
T. J. Berry, a Republican State Representative whose District includes some Outer Suburbs of Kansas City, said that many of his Constituents were proud Union Members who Opposed Right to Work but nonetheless voted Republican because they were Conservative on Issues like Abortion and Guns. “I have four guys who are Ford workers in my Sunday school class,” Berry said. “And they fit exactly what I’ve told you: Pro-life, Pro-Gun, and Pro-Worker. All of them voted for Trump.”
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
