JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri lawmakers in the House of Representatives gave first-round approval to two Right-to-Work bills today — one, a bill sponsored by a black St. Louis Democrat — marking a likely advance to the senate.
Rep. Courtney Allen Curtis, D-Jennings, sponsored HB 582, which “prohibits certain employers from requiring certain persons to become members of a labor organization as a condition or continuation of employment.” Curtis’ bill would essentially apply Right-to-Work law exclusively to the state’s construction industry, which Curtis has repeatedly accused of deliberately excluding minorities.
“You can either fight for equality, or you can fight for continued hypocrisy,” Curtis said. “This is about workforce opportunity improvement. If Dr. King were alive today, I’d argue that he’d fight against the system of injustice and failures of the building trades.”
Curtis largely spent the floor debate battling his fellow Democrats, who largely stood in firm opposition to the bill.
“This is not a bill about equality, this is a Right-to-Work bill,” Rep. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, said. “We can take the context of the last several months and we can agree we have problems in this state, but that dosen’t change the fact that this bill is a Right-to-Work bill.”
Curtis’ bill marked a major moment for RTW advocates. Last year, RTW legislation failed to earn a simple majority vote in the House, failing to make it to the Senate despite Republican supermajorities in both chambers. With even larger majorities in both chambers this year, Republican RTW proponents entered the legislative session with a new vigor for their cause.
RTW bills quickly became the focus of several early committees, with Republican leadership happily embracing Curtis’ bill as an ideal tool with which to publicly smack House Democrats.
“This is a right to work bill framed as something that’s going to address racism but it’s not,” Rep. Karla May, a black Democrat, said. “This bill is not the answer. How is this bill gong to force more minorities into the apprenticeship program? It does not do that.”
Curtis bill was given its first round of approval by a voice vote. The bill must receive at least one more vote before advancing to the Senate. Union leaders called the bill “a distraction.”
“When, to be inclusive and build diversity in the labor movement, parties like the building trades, the coalition of black trade unionists, the Missouri AFL-CIO and community groups are working harder than ever to involve minorities in the labor movement this distracting bill is nothing more than that,” said Mike Louis, President of the Missouri AFL-CIO. “Its intent will do nothing more than lower wages, lower health care benefits, and hurt all of Missouri’s working families no matter what color or gender the workers are.”
Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Springfield, sponsored HB 116, a broader bill that would apply RTW law to the entire state. Burlison has repeatedly sponsored RTW bills over the past few years, and made a lengthy defense of the legislation on the House floor.
“More than 5 million people have moved to Right-to-Work states in the past few years,” Burlison said. “Those are jobs that we need to bring back to Missouri.”
Burlison’s bill was approved by 92-66, with 23 Republicans voting against the measure. It marks the most votes RTW legislation has ever received in the Missouri House after failing to reach a simple 82 vote majority last year.
“If we want Missouri to be competitive nationally and globally, we must give workers here in our state the freedom and the options they deserve,” said House Speaker John Diehl, R-Town and County. “By becoming a Right-to-Work state we will open the doors to new businesses, and thousands of new jobs, that would otherwise never consider setting up shop in a forced union state like Missouri.
Collin Reischman was the Managing Editor for The Missouri Times, and a graduate of Webster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
