The Missouri House of Representatives on Thursday passed legislation that some lawmakers said protects public sector employees by preventing labor unions from withholding dues and fees from workers without their consent.
The bill next heads to the governor.
Other legislators said Senate Substitute Bill No. 2 weakens unions. In addition to requiring permission for collecting dues, it also prevents unions from using fees and dues for political contributions.
Sponsored by Rep. Jered Taylor, R-Nixa, the legislation passed by a vote of 87-67 in the House. Taylor said the bill is intended to increase accountability and transparency for government employees' unions.
However, opponents, like Rep. Karla May, D-St. Louis, Rep. Ingrid Burnett, D-Kansas City, and Rep. Deb Lavender, D-Kirkwood, argued it weakens protection for minorities and women.
Empower Missouri, a Jefferson City-based advocacy group, has challenged similar legislation and supported public sector unions as protections for vulnerable people, minorities and women.
May said the legislation will harm women. She said teachers are primarily women, and unions are responsible for them getting equal pay as men in the workforce.
Burnett, a career educator, said arguments that teachers who choose not to be in the union receive lower pay are false.
One of the concerns they have, the opposing legislators said, was that the bill required the union to receive approval from 50 percent of its workforce, plus one person, to re-certify every three years.
Opponents to the bill challenged Taylor, saying he nor anybody else in the chambers would have been elected if they were required to meet that standard.
Taylor argued that because unions are smaller organizations, a different rule should apply to them than to elected officials.
Further complicating the legislation, detractors said, is the requirement that any organization that wishes to represent a bargaining unit must present signatures of at least 30 percent of public employees in the unit who agree to allow that organization to represent them.
They also argued that elections every two years would cost taxpayers money.
Minutes after the bill's passage, Missouri Rising, a conservative super political action committee, praised the bill known as Paycheck Protection as "landmark legislation that free market advocates have fought tirelessly for years to achieve."