POSTED BY MARTIN KICH

Almost lost in all of the attention to the special congressional election in Ohio’s 12th district has been a major push-back against the Right’s attacks on union rights. Voters in Missouri repealed, by an overwhelmingly majority in a referendum, the right-to-work statute that had been passed by the GOP dominated legislature. Like Ohio, Missouri is typically described as a purple state, but it has been leaning increasingly red.

Writing for the Associated Press, Jeff Stein reports:

Missouri voters on Tuesday rejected a “right to work” law that would have hampered union organizing in the state . . . The result deals a setback to state Republicans who have long sought to make Missouri a right to work state, while handing a victory to labor groups who have seen their power diluted by the Supreme Court and GOP-dominated state legislatures.

 With 55 percent of precincts reporting, AP said that 62.9 percent of voters opposed the “right-to- work” measure, while 37.1 supported it.

 State Republicans in February 2017 approved a right-to-work law, preventing unions from signing contracts that require all workers to pay for union representation, effectively allowing employees to opt out of paying any dues.

But under Missouri law, new legislation can be put to a public referendum if about 100,000 state residents sign a petition to overturn it. Unions and their supporters last summer gathered 310,000 signatures to temporarily nullify the law. Tuesday’s vote means it will not go into effect.

 Missouri is not the first state President Trump won by a large margin to show signs of a resurgent labor movement. Teachers frustrated with low pay and reduced benefits have held protests with thousands of people this year in Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Arizona, among other traditionally conservative states, and dozen of teachers tied to their unions are now running for state offices. . . .

“This is what we’re calling the last stand,” said Liz Shuler, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, in an interview before the vote. “We’ve had the entire labor movement and our community coalition working in lockstep in the state, and very focused on this because we realize it’s a bigger fight with bigger ramifications.” . . .

 Union membership has declined in 20 of 26 states that have adopted right-to-work laws, according to Frank Manzo, policy director of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute.

“At a time when working families are struggling because wages are stagnant and health care and education costs are soaring, nobody should be forced to pay union dues,” a spokeswoman for Josh Hawley, the Republican nomination for the state’s Senate race, said in an email.

Jeff Stein’s complete article is available at: washingtonpost.com/business/2018/08/08/missouri-voters-defeat-gop-backed-right-work-law-victory-unions-associated- press-projects/.