General Laws Committee hears from Rowden, right-to-work supporters

In this March 2018 photo, state Sen. Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, testifies at a legislative hearing in Jefferson City, Missouri.
In this March 2018 photo, state Sen. Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, testifies at a legislative hearing in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Opponents of right to work rallied at the Capitol on Wednesday. Read that article here.

Missourians could vote this November on whether to enshrine Missouri's right-to-work law into the state Constitution.

A bill authored by state Sen. Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, could place the question in front of voters in November's general election. If the bill passes both chambers, the fate of right to work in Missouri could be decided by two ballot measures.

The Senate's General Laws committee heard Wednesday from Rowden and other right-to-work supporters. Rowden told the committee declining union memberships in Missouri concern him, but he wants the state to compete with border states that have right-to-work laws.

"There is a place and a need for labor unions in our state," Rowden told the committee. "Whether we like it or not, the main states that we are in competition with to attract jobs are freedom-to-work states."

In February 2017, Greitens signed Senate Bill 19, which made Missouri a right-to-work state. Union participation in Missouri peaked in 1989, when 15.5 percent of the workforce had union memberships.

Last year, unions represented 8.7 percent of workers, or 226,000 of 2.6 million employed Missourians. Union participation in 2017 declined about 1 percent, or 36,000 workers, from 2016 levels.

Nationwide, 27 other states have right-to-work laws, according to the conservative-leaning National Right-to-Work Foundation. Of Missouri's border states, only Illinois does not have a right-to-work law.

Rowden told the committee the only way to reverse declining union membership is to pass a right-to-work law.

"Somehow, some way, Missouri has to provide a shot in the arm to its economy," Rowden said. "Absent any status-quo change, that trajectory continues to go down."

If the proposed constitutional amendment is put before voters, they could be asked whether to reject the existing right-to-work law or enshrine a new right-to-work law into the state Constitution.

Senate Bill 19 allows unions to continue representing workers, but provides employees the ability to opt out of paying union dues. After Greitens signed the bill last year, unions quickly began circulating referendum petitions as they sought to repeal the law through the ballot box.

In August, union-backed right-to-work opponents submitted more than 310,000 signatures to Secretary of State Jay Aschroft's office to force a referendum on the current law onto this November's ballot, delaying the law's implementation until the referendum is held.

Missouri Proposition A asks voters if they want to adopt last year's bill as is or reject it. A "yes" vote means the law goes into effect, while a "no" vote means it does not. If more than 50 percent vote "no," Senate Bill 19 would be repealed.

Kevin King, business administrator for Roofers Local 20 in Kansas City, traveled to Jefferson City on Wednesday to meet with legislators at a biannual event held by the Missouri State Building and Construction Trades Council. Before the hearing, the event culminated in a rally on the Capitol's south lawn.

King and other members of the union wandered into the Senate committee's hearing wearing lime-green shirts asking people to vote "no" on Prop A. Before the hearing, King said Rowden's proposed constitutional amendment concerns him.

"We worked pretty hard to get this on the ballot, and that is a concern to all of our members," King said.

He said right-to-work laws lower wages for all workers in states.

"That's what our main concern is, that our members would take a pay cut - as would everybody else," King said.

State Sen. Gina Walsh, D-Bellefontaine Neighbors, serves as the president of the Missouri State Building and Construction Trades Council.

Walsh said she did not know Rowden's bill would be heard by the Senate committee until Tuesday. Still, Walsh respects the right of committee Chairman Bob Onder, R-Lake St. Louis, to hear the bill Wednesday.

She acknowledged, in 1978, many people statewide thought voters would approve a proposed constitutional amendment that would have made Missouri a right-to-work state. Instead, more than 60 percent of those casting ballots in the November general election rejected the constitutional amendment.

"I don't think that the folks who are going to be voting on this (this year) are that much different than they were 40 years ago," Walsh said.

U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Missouri, said after a campaign stop at the rally that, by pushing right to work, Republicans are not working in the interests of young and working-class people.

"That's what I think is so ironic about this," McCaskill said, "is that somebody who's against right to work is an elitist and somebody who's for 'right to work for less' is a populist."

Studies on the effects of right-to-work laws on wages and economic growth remain mixed.

A 2015 study by the liberal Economic Policy Institute said wages are generally 3.1 percent lower in right-to-work states. The study found wages tend to be 15.8 percent higher, or $23.93 per hour, in non-right-to-work states than in right-to-work states, where wages averaged $20.66 per hour.

This translates to a difference of about $1,500 per year.

Meanwhile, a 2015 study - prepared by Ohio University economics professor Richard Vedder for the conservative Wisconsin Research Policy Institute - said right-to-work laws added 6 percentage points to the growth of states from 1983-2013. This study also found states that experience a small drop in union participation - up to about a 3 percent drop - still experience strong economic growth after right-to-work laws take effect.

Still, Walsh thinks for labor groups to win in November, they will need support from groups outside construction trades.

"Here's the deal - we had more support from outside our ranks (in 1978) than we had ever thought possible," she said. "We fight these fights and we talk about these bills that affect working-people."

News Tribune reporter Bob Watson contributed to this article.