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What I've Been Reading This Week: Right to Work Edition


This past week, I came across several articles that dealt with "right to work" legislation in states across the country.  For those needing a refresher, right to work laws prohibit labor unions from collecting fees to pay for the negotiation and administration of collective bargaining agreements from workers who benefit from these agreements, but are not part of the union.  It should not come as much of a surprise that Democrats traditionally oppose these laws while Republicans tend to push for their passage.  But as for this week, having read several articles on the topic, I think it is appropriate to dedicate this post to right to work matters.

As always, below are a couple articles that caught my eye this week.


Could New Hampshire Become the Next Right to Work State?

As The New Hampshire Union Leader writes, New Hampshire is poised to become the next right to work state, now that Republicans control both legislative chambers and the governor's office.  Governor-elect Chris Sununu recently stated that he is "fairly" confident that right to work legislation will be passed in 2017 (after prior Democratic governors in the state had opposed such legislation).  Currently there are 26 states that have enacted right to work laws...it would not surprise me to see New Hampshire become the 27th.



Missouri Lawyers Weekly recently wrote a well thought out article on the impact of a potential right to work law on employers in the state.  With the election of a new governor in the state who appears to be receptive to right to work legislation (at least more so than former Governor, Jay Nixon), it is possible, if not likely, that Missouri could finally approve right to work legislation.  Even for those readers not in Missouri, the first part of the article is worth a review which provides an overview of right to work laws.



Last month, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in Auto Workers Local 3047 v. Hardin County and upheld "local" right to work laws.  While the National Labor Relations Act has allowed state governments to enact statewide right to work laws, local governments in Kentucky attempted to pass local right to work laws...something that up until that time had been relatively unheard of.  Naturally, labor unions cried foul and argued that labor statutes grant only states, not local governments, the right to pass right to work legislation.  This article from Bloomberg does a good job breaking down the key parts of the case and just how far reaching this opinion might actually be.

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