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Could Missouri's Right to Work Law End Up on the 2018 Ballot? Unions Are Certainly Trying


This past February, Missouri Republican Governor Eric Greitens signed a bill that would make Missouri a right to work state.  (The right to work bill would prevent employers from mandating union membership as a condition of employment).

Unsurprisingly, unions were quick to criticize the bill as a job killer with Democrats in the state trying to find ways to stop the implementation of the bill.  The prevailing notion to contest the right to work bill was to collect enough signatures to get the matter on the 2018 ballot.  Although only 100,000 notarized signatures are needed to force a vote, it was recently announced that 300,000 signatures had been gathered to support putting the right to work measure on the 2018 ballot for voters to decide upon.  (It is always a good idea to get more signatures than necessary as many signatures are often contested, illegible, signed by people not registered to vote in the state, etc.  As a result, if more signatures are submitted than what is required, it limits some of the risk if certain signatures are excluded.  In this instance, it looks like opponents of the right to work bill went above and beyond to make sure they compiled enough signatures to force a vote).

If opponents of the right to work bill are successful, right to work will be put on hold in the state until the outcome of the vote next year.  However, if it is determined that 100,000 valid signatures were not submitted, the bill is set to take effect on August 28th.  It is expected that the signatures will be submitted to the Missouri Secretary of State tomorrow.  

Not to be outdone, however, there has been approximately $600,000.00 contributed recently to political action committees that are working to ensure a smooth implementation of the right to work bill.  Whether this money is sufficient to hold off the ballot initiative that unions are seeking is hard to say, although perhaps this money would be better spent on an expected 2018 fight should this matter go before voters.  I would expect the months leading up to that vote to be quite costly and likely very contentious.



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