JEFFERSON CITY • Gov. Jay Nixon has vetoed legislation that would make public employee unions ask their members each year if they want to continue being members.
"The bill targets a single group of employees and imposes on them an unnecessary and cumbersome process," Nixon wrote in his veto message.
The bill, which Republican legislators often referred to as “paycheck protection” during the session, would also have required public employee unions to get annual permission to use members’ fees for political purposes.
The GOP-controlled Legislature will return to the Capitol in September for a chance to override some vetoes, but the paycheck deduction bill passed the House in an 85-69 vote — well below the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto.
Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Springfield, said the goal of the legislation was to give employees more control over their money and argued that many workers have to reauthorize health insurance or charitable contributions that are deducted from their paychecks.
“There is pressure to call an organization that you are giving money to and say you want to opt out of it,” he said. “The bill doesn’t take away the right or ability to join a union; it just makes sure that control stays in the hands of the employee.”
But he said he wasn’t surprised by Nixon’s veto.
“It serves Nixon’s self interests to veto the bill, so it’s not remarkable that he did it,” he said.
But in his veto message, Nixon questioned the motive behind the bill, which could deal a blow to unions that would have to shift efforts toward re-authorizations.
"Singling out union dues for these extra processes serves no beneficial purpose," Nixon wrote. "Rather, the bill places unnecessary burdens on public employees for the purpose of weakening labor organizations."
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry panned Nixon’s decision.
“The legislation doesn’t keep an employee from making a contribution, but it gives that employee the choice,” Chamber President Dan Mehan said in a statement. “It is difficult for us to understand how the governor can justify this veto.”
Meanwhile, labor groups praised it.
“With today’s veto, Governor Nixon stood up for the basic rights of Missouri’s everyday heroes – the people who work every day to keep our state working. Nurses, teachers, police officers and countless other middle class Missourians would have lost their voice on the job if this unfair and dangerous paycheck deception bill were to become law,” Hugh McVey, president of the Missouri AFL-CIO, said in a statement.
The paycheck deduction bill is Senate Bill 29.
