More States Poised to Enact Right-to-Work

This year will bring change at the federal and state levels in right-to-work laws.

Twenty-six states currently give workers the right not to join a union or pay fees as a condition of their employment. While the laws are not the only drivers of economic health, many businesses won’t consider operating or expanding in states that don’t have them.

States considering right-to-work legislation in 2017 include Missouri, Kentucky, and New Hampshire.

In Missouri, newly elected Republican Governor Eric Greitens is expected to sign the right-to-work law vetoed by Gov. Jay Nixon, Greitens’ predecessor.

Unions have begun collecting signatures to put a repeal measure on the ballot for the 2018 election.

Kentucky is the only southern state that isn’t right-to-work, but that should change now that Republicans have won control of the legislature for the first time since 1920. Because partisan differences prevented a decision at the state level, Kentucky allowed counties to pass right-to-work laws.

New Hampshire is also likely to move on right-to-work next year as GOP Governor-elect Chris Sununu will join a Republican-dominated legislature. Sununu told the New Hampshire Union Leader that he was open to right to work and was “fairly” confident that lawmakers would pass it.

Source: Wall Street Journal