A bill that would tie union organizing restrictions to economic development incentives is headed to Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves’ desk for final approval.
Senate Bill 2202, which passed the House last week, would require that businesses that receive economic development grants from the state agree to labor organizing stipulations.
The legislation would ban employers from recognizing unions solely by a card check, or majority sign-up, and require a secret ballot election. It would ban agreements that prohibit employers from campaigning against unions during organizing and ban companies from giving unions employee contact information without written consent.
House Business and Commerce Committee Chairman Lee Yancey, a Republican from Brandon, said the bill is intended to attract businesses to Mississippi by ensuring them the “flexibility to run their companies.”
“This is us having a say in what we spend our dollars on and what kind of activities it promotes,” he said.
However, Rep. Oscar Denton, a Democrat from Vicksburg and longtime union member, was concerned the bill would discourage companies from coming to Mississippi.
“We must ask whether it is appropriate for the state of Mississippi to condition economic incentives on how employees exercise federally protected rights,” Denton said. “Economic development should be about jobs, infrastructure and opportunity – not about limiting how workers organize themselves together.”
By requiring a private ballot, employers who receive these state grants would no longer be able to voluntarily recognize unions based on signed authorization cards alone.
Additionally, the bill could make labor organizing more challenging by prohibiting employers from giving employee contact information to organizers without approval and banning neutrality agreements between employers and unions. Under these agreements, employers vow not to advocate for or against worker organizing during a union campaign.
Yancey said that it was reasonable to impose such measures on companies receiving state dollars, while Denton argued the bill would also skew organizing campaigns in favor of management.
“We can be in a race … but if you’re on pavement and I’m in quicksand, you already got the advantage,” Denton said. “The distance is the same, but the conditions are different.”
Mississippi has long been a right-to-work state, meaning workers cannot be forced to join a union or pay dues. Employers may fire workers at any time for almost any reason. About 5% of working Mississippians are union members, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
If Reeves signs the bill, Mississippi would become the first state in the country to ban neutrality agreements and the fourth state to require private ballots, according to Workers for Opportunity, a national group that advocates for employee rights against unions.
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