SimplyHR | Employment & Labor Blog 

President Biden is committed to promoting labor organizing in an effort to strengthen union organizing after years of declining membership. In 2020, 10.8 percent of employees, including governmental employees, belonged to a union. In the 1950s, the total union membership exceeded 30 percent, including governmental employees. In 2020, the union membership in the private sector was 6.3 percent, whereas in 1983, the unions represented 23 percent of the employees in the private sector.

On Aug. 7, 2018, Missouri residents voted by a 2 to 1 margin against Proposition A, which would have made Missouri a right-to-work state.

The ballot measure asked voters whether they wished to enact Senate Bill 19, which the state legislature passed and former Gov. Eric Greitens signed last year. If enacted, that bill would have prohibited “employers from requiring employees to join or refrain from joining a labor organization, requiring employees to pay any money to a labor organization, or requiring employees to pay any charity or third party the equivalent of money required to be paid by members of a labor organization.”

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion June 27 in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, 585 U.S. ___ (2018), holding that nonunion members working in union positions for public employers are not obligated to pay agency fees, also known as “fair share” fees. This overturns Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, 431 U.S. 209 (1977) which set the precedent that as long as the agency fees represent the percentage of the union’s expenditures for collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance adjustment purposes, then state governments can legislate that public employees employed in positions represented by unions, even though not union members, can be required to pay service charges or agency fees. In conjunction, unions are required to provide detailed notices of how the agency fees are being spent for “chargeable” activities (contract and bargaining based activities) and “non-chargeable” activities (political and lobbying activities). It should be noted that federal law prohibits unions that bargain for federal workers to charge agency fees to nonunion members, but according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 27 percent of the federal workforce are union members.

The Missouri legislature has approved a proposal that moves the date of a public vote on the state’s right-to-work law to the August 2018 ballot.

The proposal was approved 96-47 in the Missouri House on May 17. The Senate had already passed the measure. The legislative approval moves a statewide vote on whether to prevent the Missouri right-to-work law from taking effect from November to the Aug. 7 primary ballot. 

On May 8, 2018, a Missouri Senate committee approved a proposal to have voters decide in August 2018, rather than November 2018, whether to prevent the Missouri right-to-work law from taking effect. If allowed to become effective, the right-to-work law would prohibit employers from requiring employees to join a union or pay union dues as a condition of employment.

The federal employment law landscape saw some interesting developments in 2017, as well as some anticipated changes that were ultimately halted or delayed. Below is a summary of major federal employment law headlines and a look at what employers can expect in 2018.

For Missouri and Illinois employers specifically, a review of 2017 updates and a look forward at 2018 can be found here.

Update: This post has been updated to correct a reference to the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s appeal. The Missouri workers represented by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation are suing not to prevent a public vote but to ensure that the summary of the proposition that appears on the ballot in 2018 does not confuse or mislead voters.

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens earlier this year signed into law a bill that prohibits requiring employees to join a union or pay union fees. The law was set to become effective Aug. 28, 2017. However, while the governor signed the bill, Missouri allows for a party to petition for a referendum to put the issue before voters. Mike Louis, President of the Missouri AFL-CIO, submitted a request to the Missouri Secretary of State for a referendum whereby the issue would be submitted to the voters for their approval or rejection.

Missouri has become the 28^th state to enact right-to-work legislation banning mandatory union dues. Gov. Eric Greitens signed the bill into law on Feb. 6, 2017, and it will take effect on Aug. 28, 2017.

A federal judge’s decision to block the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) from enforcing its new persuader rule means employers may continue hiring legal counsel on unionization issues without facing an argument from the DOL that fees paid to legal counsel must be publicly disclosed.