This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, June 24, 2013: As expected, Gov. Jay Nixon announced Tuesday that he had vetoed SB29, a bill to stop public employers – including school boards and the city of St. Louis – from deducting union dues from members’ paychecks without an annual authorization.
The bill also would have required a separate annual authorization before dues money could be spent on political activities.
Nixon noted in his veto that the members already can change their authorizations at any time. He said that SB29 was actually about “singling out union dues … for no beneficial purpose.”
The governor, a lawyer and former attorney general, also questioned the constitutionality of the measure’s provision that exempted police, firefighters and other first-responders. Nixon wrote that the exemptions amounted to “disparate treatment to similarly situated people,’’ which he said violated the U.S. Constitution’s equal-protection clause.
Backers, who dubbed the bill the “paycheck protection act,’’ said it was necessary to protect workers from greedy union leaders. Critics, who called the measure the “paycheck deception act,’’ said that the real aim of the Republican-dominated General Assembly was to hurt the finances of labor unions, which tend to support Democratic candidates.
The state Senate approved the bill by a veto-proof majority, but the House did not – raising questions about whether Republican legislative leaders will attempt to override Nixon’s veto.
Missouri labor leaders and teachers groups were swift to praise the governor, with some noting the measure's support from the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative group that advocates various pieces of legislation, including so-called "right to work."
“With today’s veto, Gov. Nixon stood up for the basic rights of Missouri’s everyday heroes – the people who work every day to keep our state working," said Hugh McVey, president of the Missouri AFL-CIO. "Nurses, teachers, police officers and countless other middle-class Missourians would have lost their voice on the job if this unfair and dangerous paycheck deception bill were to become law."
Chris Guinther, president of the Missouri NEA, the state's largest teachers' group, contended that SB29 curbed school districts' rights. "It's ALEC's agenda,'' she said. "It's about squelching certain unions and making it more difficult to sign up members."
But the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, which has long sought such a measure, lamented the governor's action.
“Using employees’ money for politicians or issues that they do not support goes against the very tenets this country was built upon,” said Missouri Chamber President Dan Mehan.
“Employees have a right to say what is taken out of their paychecks for political campaigns; just like each year employees have the option to choose how much is withdrawn to go to organizations like United Way or how much money is taken out of their paychecks for their 'cafeteria' or 401K plans.”
“The legislation doesn’t keep an employee from making a contribution, but it gives that employee the choice,” Mehan said. “It is difficult for us to understand how the governor can justify this veto.”
