Senate passes union, collective bargaining bill after hours of debate

Missouri senators spent more than two hours discussing and making changes to a bill that would prohibit withholding pay from employees’ paychecks to go toward paying union dues.

HB 1413, sponsored by Rep. Jered Taylor, R – Nixa, passed in the Senate Wednesday after 2 1/2 hours of debate.

Supporters of the bill have said that it would increase transparency within public-sector unions by holding them to private-sector union standards.

Senate Democrats were able to add on four amendments to the bill during the hours of discussion.

Sen. Jill Schupp, D – St. Louis County, said she appreciated the amendments added Wednesday night, but said the bill would still negatively impact employees’ collective bargaining efforts.

“This takes away the ability of those individuals working together to make a statement on behalf of what they need the employer to hold up as their end of the bargain when those employees are holding up their end of the bargain,” she said.