LD489 - So-Called “Right to Work”

(2015)

An Act To Ensure the Right To Work without Payment of Dues or Fees to a Labor Union as a Condition of Employment

Sponsored by Sponsored by Representative Lawrence Lockman (R-Amherst)

What is the bill?

Yet again this year, anti-union legislators and Governor LePage submitted so-called “Right to Work” bills in Augusta, despite the fact that we have defeated them numerous times since 2011. “Right to Work” bills are designed to weaken unions and drive down wages and working conditions. Under these laws workers can contribute nothing to a union, yet gain all the benefits and full representation. LD 489 would have made union security clauses illegal in Maine, meaning that workers and employers could not agree that all workers share the costs of collective bargaining and representation. Under federal law, no worker is required to join a union, but unions have a duty of fair representation to represent all workers in a bargaining unit, whether they join the union or not. Many unions negotiate a clause that workers who don’t join the union contribute to the costs of bargaining and enforcing the contract. This bill was defeated with bipartisan opposition in both the House and Senate.

What happened?

Defeated

Votes