Missouri Voters Defeat RTW

On Tuesday, August 7, voters in Missouri went to the polls to vote in the state’s primary for November’s election. On the ballot was a referendum on whether Missouri should become the next ‘right-to-work’ state, known as Prop A.

The legislature initially approved the law in February 2017, but labor unions collected more than 310,000 petition signatures, which forced the law to be decided by popular referendum. At the close of the 2018 session, the legislature changed the referendum date from the November election to the August primary, in an attempt to stifle voter turnout, which tends to be smaller for primaries.

Nevertheless, Missouri voters ultimately opposed the law by a more than 2-to-1 margin, preventing ‘right-to-work’ from taking effect. According to the St. Louis Dispatch, voters in both urban and rural areas opposed Prop A, with only 14 of 114 counties voting in favor. Missourians previously rejected ‘right-to-work’ in 1978, with 60% of voters opposing the law at that time.

However, the successful rejection of ‘right-to-work’ in Missouri did not come without cost. Three campaign funds that supported Prop A raised nearly $6 million, while labor unions and affiliated organizations raised more than $16 million to oppose the law. The opposing campaigns drew national attention, including a viral radio ad by actor John Goodman, a Missouri native and union member.

Nonetheless, with the Missouri legislature still firmly in Republican control, it is possible the battle over ‘right-to-work’ is not over, but simply on hold until the next legislative session.