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North Carolina Republicans Seek to Add Right to Work to State Constitution


North Carolina is a right to work state (and has been since 1947).  With that being said, Republicans in the state are seeking to add right to work to the Constitution via a voter referendum in November 2018.  In doing so, that would enshrine right to work in the state and make it much more difficult to overturn (compared to if right to work was not added to the North Carolina Constitution and a Democratic controlled Legislature could 'simply' pass a bill undoing right to work).

Last week, the House Judiciary I Committee passed a bill along party lines, by a 6 - 5 vote, to allow for the voter referendum.  The bill is now on its way to the House Rules Committee.  With Republicans pushing this bill along, and appearing to have the necessary votes to approve the bill, this is certainly on the fast track.  However, Democrats in the Legislature have argued adding right to work to the Constitution is uneccesary with Democratic Representative Duane Hall going so far as to say the proposed amendment to the Constitution 'changes nothing' (well besides making it more difficult to undo right to work in the state, right?)

At this point, it is certainly a good possibility that voters in the state will have a say on the matter next fall.  Should the referendum get that far, it will be interesting to see hard each side fights leading up to the vote (not to mention how much money is spent to support or oppose the referendum...)



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