JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed a measure Thursday that would have made Missouri the 26th right-to-work state, and it’s unclear whether proponents will be able to muster enough support in the Republican-led Legislature to override the veto.
The governor, a longtime opponent of the effort, traveled to the Kansas City area to announce the veto among about 200 local United Auto Workers union members near a Ford assembly plant. The bill would have barred workplace contracts that require all employees- even those who aren’t union members – to pay union fees.
“This extreme measure would take our state backward, squeeze the middle-class, lower wages for Missouri families, and subject businesses to criminal and unlimited civil liability,” Nixon said in a statement. “Right to work is wrong for Missouri, it’s wrong for the middle-class and it must never become the law of the Show-Me State.”
The legislation also would make anyone “who directly or indirectly violates” its provisions subject to misdemeanor charges punishable by up to 15 days in jail and a fine of up to $300. Civil lawsuits also could be brought against anyone who violates, or threatens to violate, the bill’s ban on mandatory union fees in workplaces.
Nixon slammed the bill as a “big-government overreach.”