Labor Committee Rejects Right to Work for Less on Party Lines

PHOTO: Retired nurse Amy Strum (MSNA) testifies against LD 187 on Feb. 12.

The Maine Legislature’s Labor Committee voted 6-4 on party lines to reject a “right-to-work” for less bill designed to weaken unions and drive down wages. LD 187, "An Act to Prohibit Labor Organizations from Imposing Mandatory Service Fees on Nonmembers,” sponsored by Rep. Josh Morris, would ban contract agreements between workers and employers that require all workers in a bargaining unit to contribute to the costs of union representation. It is co-sponsored by Reps. Laurel Libby, Reagan Paul (R-Winterport), Randall Greenwood (R-Wales), Gary Drinkwater (R-Milford), Michael Lance (R-Paris) and Alicia Collins (R-Sidney).

In making the motion to reject the bill, Rep. Matt Beck (D-South Portland), a member of IBEW 1837, said it was clear that working people didn’t support the bill.

“It’s worth noting that in Maine the so-called right-to-work bills have come up in every session of the Legislature and even when the Republican Party held the Blaine House, the Senate and the House they were unable to get it passed because frankly working people don’t want this,” said Beck. “Whether they are in a union or not, they don’t see how this will benefit them.”

The only proponents who testified in support of the bill at the public hearing were Rep. Morris, Rep. Greenwood and former Republican Senator Garrett Mason on behalf of the anti-union Associated Builders and Contractors of Maine.

In the minority report of the committee, Republicans removed the provision making fair share dues optional for workers in private sector unionized workplace and kept the portion of the bill repealing the fair dues for public sector workers. This would mirror an anti-labor Supreme Court Janus decision, which struck down fair share union fees in the public sector. Nevertheless, it is encouraging that Republicans who had previously supported this bill removed the anti-fair share provision for private sector workers. It shows how politically unpopular these bills are becoming.