AP: Missourians reject “right-to-work” law

UPDATE: Missourians rejected Proposition A, according to the Associated Press.

Nearly two-thirds of voters rejected the measure, meaning Missouri’s “right-to-work” law will be reversed.

People at the Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 36 hall cheered on as it became clear the measure would fail. Mike Louis, president of the Missouri AFL-CIO, thanked the crowd for repeating the reuslts of a 1978 vote on right-to-work.

“Forty years ago, they tried to force this down our throats,” Louis said. “Today, we said ‘Not then, not now, not ever.'”

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce criticized the millions of dollars labor groups spent to fight Proposition A. Daniel Mehan, president of the Chamber of Commerce, said the group would not give up on the issue.

“With the future of our state’s economy on the line, we cannot concede hope that Missouri will join most other states and pass freedom to work protections,” Mehan said.

Louis told ABC 17 News that lawmakers, which he said were influenced by corporate interests, would bring up right-ot-work at their own peril. Louis said the results of the vote show clearly how Missourians feel about the issue.

“They got the think long and hard, ‘Do I want to be re-elected? Or am I just going to take that dark money again and take a chance on losing my job,'” Louis said.

ORIGINAL: Voters statewide will decide whether or not Missouri will become a “right-to-work” state on Tuesday.

If approved, the measure dubbed Proposition A would keep a Missouri Senate bill signed by then-Gov. Eric Greitens in 2017 as law. The bill made it illegal for employers to require new employees pay dues to a labor organization as a condition of employment, and criminalized anyone who tried to require it.

The issue has been contested in the state legislature for several years. Former Gov. Jay Nixon repealed such a law in 2016, claiming it would weaken labor unions in the state and lowering take home pay for workers. Supporters of the “right-to-work” law claim it boosts worker pay, which would lead to greater investment into other services due to increased consumer spending.

Labor groups from across the state have poured millions into fighting the measure. The Missouri Ethics Commission report for We Are Missouri, a labor-backed group opposed to Proposition A, has spent more than $15 million to fight it.

ABC 17 News checked into the ads both sides ran on Proposition A, which can be viewed here and here.

Workers at the Sheet Metal Workers Union hall in St. Louis said the issue spurred them to knock on doors to campaign against an issue for the first time in their lives. Mike Hoegemeier, a grocery store worker and member of the United Food and Commercial Workers, feared the right to work laws would weaken the union’s power to collectively bargain. He said the sacrifices made by union members before him inspired him to talk about the issue with his neighbors.

“This is my fight, and there are people, my union brothers and sisters did it before me, and after 43 years, it’s about time I get my ass out there and pout something back in,” Hoegemeier said.