As 2011 draws to a close, right-to-work-for-less legislation is poised to rear its ugly head again after being defeated in several states this year. This week’s Battleground Bulletin examines the plans of anti-worker legislators in Ohio, Indiana and New Hampshire to resurrect these misguided proposals.

The Fight Against Right-To-Work-For-Less Continues

Despite the big victories working families across the country scored in defense of workers’ basic rights this year, some anti-worker legislators and their allies have ignored the voters and plan to continue their attack on workers.

With a final vote of 240 to 139, New Hampshire House Speaker William O’Brien fell 12 votes short of the two-thirds majority necessary to override Governor John Lynch’s veto of right-to-work-for-less legislation. O’Brien has been trying to override the governor’s veto since May, but has repeatedly delayed the vote in the hope that enough pro-worker citizen legislators would fail to show up, thus changing the outcome. Since the original vote on the bill, four pro-worker candidates—three Democrats and a Republican firefighter—won special elections for seats previously held by O’Brien allies. All won after vowing to vote to sustain the governor’s veto.

Less than a month after Buckeye State voters stood up for public workers and collective bargaining by soundly rejecting SB 5, a petition has been submitted to enshrine right-to-work-for-less language in the Ohio constitution. State Attorney General Mike DeWine rejected language proposed by the group heading up the effort, the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, who must now go back to the drawing board. If they are able to pass this legal hurdle, the anti-worker group must then collect more than 360,000 valid signatures to put the measure on the 2012 general election ballot.

During the 2011 session, anti-worker politicians in Indiana had their efforts to pass right-to-work-for-less thwarted by House Democrats’ five-week denial of a quorum in their chamber. Yet, 2012 is shaping up to see this fight repeated in the Hoosier State. With the biennial budget out of the way and a tacit endorsement from the term-limited governor, Indiana Republicans will likely ignore the recent voter backlash against anti-worker policies and push to make Indiana a right-to-work-for-less state.

Just what would these misguided policies mean to the economies of these states? The legislation supported, and sometimes written, by organizations like ALEC and the Chamber of Commerce, ignore the fact that eight of the twelve states with the highest unemployment rates in the country are right-to-work; that the rates of children without health insurance are 39 percent higher in right-to-work states; and that the average worker in a right-to-work state makes $5,000 a year less than average workers in other states.

AFSCME members, activists and allies have shown in Ohio, Wisconsin and other battlegrounds that, together, we can fight back against the corporate agenda and protect good jobs for working families nationwide. We must continue our fight in 2012.

Breaking News
News from the front lines of our fight for workers rights:

WI: Recall group says it has 300,000 signatures
Patrick Marley, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11/28/11

WA: “We are the Safety Net”
Josh Feit, Publicola, 11/28/11

NY: Unions want to replicate Erie campaign
Jimmy Vielkind, Albany Times Union: Capitol Confidential, 11/28/11

IL: Illinois shouldn’t fix its pension problems by breaking promises
Editorial Board, St. Louis Today, 11/29/11

MN: Conservative-backed group sues over child care union vote
Tim Pugmire, MPR News, 11/28/11

MI: Snyder, legislative Republicans are uneasy allies
Jim Timmermann, Holland Sentinel, 11/28/11

AZ: Report: ALEC in Arizona influences lawmakers
Ginger Rough, Tuscon Citizen, 11/28/11

British public workers stage massive strike over pension cuts
Laura Clawson, Daily Kos Labor, 11/30/11

Labor Board Gives Power to Staff as Democrat’s Term Nears an End
Holly Rosenkrantz, Bloomberg, 11/28/11

Stat of the Week

In right-to-work-for-less states, 12.5 percent of residents fall below the federal poverty line, a rate 22.5 percent higher than non-right-to-work-for-less states.
“Right to Work for Less,” AFL-CIO Legislative Action Center

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