It's important to recognize victories when they happen. Here's one from the purple state of Missouri:
But after debating the bill for about three hours, with packed galleries of pro-union spectators looking on, the Senate shelved it without a vote. Whether it will ever reach a vote was unclear.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch:'Right-to-work' bill stalls in Missouri Senate
Last night as Republicans sought to pass a “right to work” bill in Missouri, over 500 workers packed the state Senate gallery, reminding lawmakers of the 5000 anti-[right to work] bill protesters who filled Kiener Plaza last week. Republicans were unable to even gather enough support to bring their anti-union bill to a vote.
politicsusa: Do Not Pass Go: Missouri Rallies Halt Republicans’ Anti Union Bill
Senate Minority Leader Victor Callahan (D) said supporters of “right to work” for less legislation who claim it will attract more businesses to the state might as well be arguing “let us race to become more competitive by emulating the Third World…
through unions and good jobs we created a middle class. The middle class didn’t cause recession, Big Banks did.
Tweeting from last night’s session, Cathy Sherwin, the Missouri AFL-CIO communications director, noted that opposition to the bill crossed party lines, including Sen. Kevin Engler (R) who said his parents’ union membership benefited both the family and the state.
Because my parents had good union benefits, my parents are going into a nursing home with NO state benefits needed at no cost to state.
Senate leaders said they would not bring the bill back up this week and it was uncertain if it would be on the agenda after the legislature’s spring break next week.
AFL-CIO Blog
I remember voting in 1978 when business put a "right to work for less" provision on the ballot:
Right-to-work is neither bold nor new, but rather the longtime dream of the state’s largest business lobbies, Associated Industries of Missouri and the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry. In 1978, they got a referendum on the issue before state voters. Organized labor mounted a campaign that stressed that union wages helped raise wages for everyone and defeated the measure by a 3-2 margin.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Missouri lawmakers should spare us the right-to-work debate.e>
Unions and Dems ran ads quoting Harrry Truman, who had died several years earlier, about "right to work for less" laws. I'll see if I can find some quotes:
"You will find some people saying that they are for the so-called ‘right-to-work’ law, but they also believe in unions. This is absurd—it’s like saying you are for motherhood but against children”
-President Harry S. Truman, 1947
I remember one about free riders and collective bargaining. They were effective.
So let's celebrate a victory in Missouri as we fight to recall the Republicans in Wisconsin, fight in Ohio to overturn the bill by by a referendum and fight in Indiana and Michigan.
Solidarity.