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Proposed Right to Work Amendment Coming to Virginia Ballots On November 8th


In a few short weeks, voters in Virginia (and four other states) will make decisions that will impact the right to work law in the state.  For those not familiar with right to work, these laws protect employees from being required to join a union, while also allowing non-union employees to benefit from collective bargaining or negotiating done by a union.  Critics of right to work have routinely called these laws an attack on unions and enable non-union members to take advantage of the work unions do without having to pay union dues.

Virginia, a right to work state since 1947, has a proposed state constitutional amendment ballot initiative that voters will decide upon November 8th.  The proposed ballot initiative would essentially strengthen the existing right to work law already in place by amending the state constitution and placing the right to work law in the constitution.  Note, at this time, the right to work law in Virginia exists by way of statute.  In theory, at any point, the state legislature could vote to amend or repeal that portion of the statute and do away with the right to work law.  However, should this ballot initiative pass and right to work be written into Virginia's constitution, that would make it tougher to repeal.  In order to change a constitutional amendment, another constitutional amendment would have to be approved through two separate General Assembly sessions and then approved by voters.  It goes without saying, that is no small task...

To the surprise of few, labor unions have actively been engaged in recent weeks in a coordinated effort to defeat this ballot initiative.  At this time, Virginia appears to be favoring Hillary Clinton for President.  The common thought is those more liberal minded voters would likely vote against this proposed ballot initiative as well...but time will tell.



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