The following letter was signed by Grover Norquist and sent to members of the Missouri House of Representatives.
April 4, 2014
Dear Members of the Missouri House of Representatives,
I am writing to you today to express my strong support of House Bill 1770. This bill, introduced by Representative Eric Burlison and co-sponsored by Speaker Tim Jones, would empower workers to choose where they want to work without being forced to join a union. Voters would be allowed to decide on the question for themselves in a ballot referendum.
Currently, the state of Missouri allows businesses and unions to exclude individuals from the workplace if they are opposed to giving their dues to an organization with which they might not agree. Not only does this violate a worker’s freedom from compulsory association, but it also hurts the state’s competitiveness.
There are twenty-four states which have adopted right to work, by continuing to postpone this initiative Missouri risks being left behind by its neighbors. The economic benefits of these right to work states are many and well documented. Right to work states have shown a 42.6 percent gain in employment from 1990 to 2011 according to the Bureau of labor statistics. During that same period non-right-to-work states gained only 18.8 percent. In the midst of this the Show-Me-State has lagged behind every Midwestern state economically.
Census data also reveals the growth and vigor associated with right to work states. From 2000 to 2010 a net of 5 million people migrated from non-right to work states to right to work states. During that same period Missouri lost 12,000 residents, and with them went their labor, revenue, and vitality.
It is no accident that right to work states outperform their restrictive counterparts. When workers are free to decide the best way to negotiate with their employers they are able to determine the best conditions for their labor while lowering the costs for the overall economy. Though all citizens have the right to associate and assemble with whom they choose, they also have the natural right to abstain from assembly should they want to do so.
It is time to allow Missourians to assert their own worker rights. During the current jobless economy legislators should be doing everything in their power to give their constituents the tools they need to grow their state and decide on their own representation. For this reason it falls to the Missouri General Assembly to act on behalf of the workers of Missouri beholden to whims of state unions. Today I urge you to support HB 1770, a bill which would show solidarity to Missourian laborers. Americans for Tax Reform will be educating your constituents as to how their representatives in the Senate vote on this important matter.
Onward,
Grover G. Norquist
