Tue. Mar 19th, 2024

From today’s Tennessean:

Gov. Bill Lee will chair the committee campaigning to enshrine Tennessee’s right-to-work law into the state constitution in November 2022, the governor announced Monday. 

The Yes on 1 Committee Lee will chair was formed to support the right-to-work constitutional amendment, which Tennessee lawmakers approved earlier this year. The initiative, which will appear on the ballot on Nov. 8, 2022, will require final approval from voters.

“We believe that in order to make certain that in this state that right to work is enshrined … for all workers, to provide freedom for all workers, we should have that as part of our constitution,” Lee said Monday during an event in Nashville to announce the effort.

Tennessee’s right-to-work law prohibits contracts between companies and labor unions that would require all members to pay their union dues. 

Republican lawmakers have argued approving the measure would further protect the state’s right-to-work law — which has been on the books since 1947 — by codifying it in the state constitution. 

But the issue has drawn opposition from union groups such as the Tennessee AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the nation, which argues the law hurts unionizing efforts and hinders Tennesseans from accessing better benefits.

When asked if adding the state law to the constitution has any practical impact, Jim Brown, Tennessee director of National Federation of Independent Businesses, said this offers the law “extra protection.”

Read the story here.

By Editor