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TWMP: Veto session and the end of the right-to-work debate (for now)

ST. LOUIS – On “This Week in Missouri Politics,” host Scott Faughn and his guests and panel talked about the end of veto session and the failure of House Republicans to overturn its biggest piece of legislation, the “Right-to-Work” bill.

Union leaders Dave Cook, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 655, and Jeff Aboussie, the executive secretary-treasurer of the St. Louis Building and Construction Trades Council, spoke during the first half of the episode on the positive impact the decision would have for union workers in Missouri

“It definitely was a victory for working men and women here in the state,” Aboussie said. “I’m glad to see that we can finally put that behind us and move on to some things hopefully this next January that will be some economic engines for the state of Missouri.”

Cook saw it as a sign that the support of labor was becoming a more bipartisan movement in the state in the state.

“It shows that the direction labor has taken the last four or five years is paying dividends,” he said. “We were truly a group that was a Democratic base for decades, and I think with Jeff and myself and the whole labor community, we have reached across party lines because it’s not a partisan issue. It’s a labor issue, it’s a worker issue.”

The panel also spent much of their time discussing the impacts, effects and the future of right-to-work legislation in Missouri. Crystal Brinkley, executive director of the Missouri Democratic Party; Minority Caucus Chair Rep. Jon Carpenter, D-Gladstone; and Rep. Ron Hicks, R-St. Peters all spoke about why opposition to right-to-work won, and Rep. Bryan Spencer, R-Wentzville, defended his decision to change his vote from no to yes.

Highlights from the episode

“Any time you take a side on something, the last thing you want to do is lose, especially something of such importance in our state. It lost by 13 votes and that’s because of the bipartisanship that you heard Carpenter talk about. It’s simple. A lot of us didn’t believe in it, we believe in smaller government, we don’t believe in stepping in in between an employer and an employee.” – Hicks, on why some Republicans opposed right-to-work legislation

“Both sides make sense. What they’ve done is they’ve turned this into a complete propaganda war, because on those points you can prove that point in correct and you can prove that it’s not correct. So, the issue doesn’t necessarily deal with right-to-work as far as the talking points. The issue deals with what will make the businesses come to Missouri.” – Spencer on Republican split on right-to-work

“Stopping right to work was the best thing we could do this year, given how the legislature is made up. I think we made the right decision. I’m glad we had some bipartisan opposition to the bill and I appreciate some of my colleagues who stepped forward to help make that happen.”  – Carpenter, on Democratic victories in a Republican supermajority and bipartisan support

“The voters of Missouri are very much familiar with this issue, and the population of Missourians that have a direct relationship to labor… This is an issue that I very much think could be a topic of conversation in the gubernatorial race coming up.” – Brinkley, on right-to-work’s future in Missouri.