At ALEC Conference, Kinder predicts right-to-work will be on ballot in Missouri

It was sweet music to those attending last week's ALEC Conference in Chicago.

The forgotten man, Missouri Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, predicted that right-to-work will be on the Missouri ballot.

That prediction was highlighted in the latest newsletter from Rep. Pat Conway, R-St. Joseph:

While attending a conference of the American Legislative Exchange Council in Chicago, Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder publicly predicted that the Missouri General Assembly will place a so-called right-to-work proposal on the statewide ballot in November 2014, The Associated Press reported in an Aug. 9 story. ALEC is a corporate-funded organization for mostly Republican lawmakers from across the country that promotes conservative, pro-business legislation at the state level.


Right-to-work laws prohibit companies from negotiating “closed shop” labor contracts that require employees represented by a union to pay union dues as a condition of employment. Missouri voters overwhelmingly rejected such a proposal the last time it appeared on the ballot, in 1978.


Since the defeat of that measure, the issue had largely remained dormant in Missouri until some Republican lawmakers revived it in 2011. Although Republicans overwhelmingly control both chambers of the General Assembly, right-to-work legislation so far has made little progress. In his comments, Kinder, a Republican, predicted that lawmakers will approve a right-to-work bill during the 2014 legislative session and put a referendum clause on it so that it would bypass a likely veto by Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon and go directly to voters.

Right-to-work is just one more step in the elimination of the middle class, but it certainly does appeal to those who are pouring their money into political campaigns.