ST. LOUIS, Mo.—About 300 Missouri union officials, workers, and supporters rallied here June 23 to
mobilize opposition to Proposition A, a measure on the Aug. 7 statewide ballot to preserve the state’s 2017 law banning the union shop. “Prop A is designed and intended to undermine our collective voice on every issue that is important to working people,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told the crowd at Laborers Local 42 headquarters. Missouri unions and supporters gathered more than 310,000 signatures on petitions to put repealing the law on the November 2018 ballot, but the state legislature in May moved the vote to primary day, when turnout will likely be lower. Proposition A is phrased so a “yes” vote would preserve the law banning what it calls “forced payments of dues,” and a “no” would repeal it. “We can’t compete with the billionaires and their money, but what we do have is people willing to go door-to-door and educate Missouri voters on the devastating effects of ‘right-to-work’ laws,” International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers member John Kahrhoff told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I think people are finally getting it. They’re finally starting to understand how devastating Prop A will be.” Read more
