Missouri workers are holding strong against another wave of attacks by anti-worker politicians.
AFSCME Council 61, which represents workers in Missouri, Iowa, and Kansas, has filed a lawsuit along with a coalition of unions, including Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1, and Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 6355, to block a newly enacted law in Missouri.
The lawsuit challenges the recently approved Senate Bill 1007, which sought, among other things, to strip public service workers of collectively bargained protections on the job. The lawsuit argues that SB 1007 infringes upon Missouri state workers’ collective bargaining rights, which Missourians have enshrined in their constitution’s Bill of Rights.
The new law, which is now in effect, would eliminate important protections Missouri workers currently enjoy that safeguard them against arbitrary or discriminatory termination and allow them to file grievances when those rights are violated.
“Former Governor Greitens may have thought he could throw away the hard-won rights of dedicated public service workers on his way out the door,” said AFSCME Council 61 President Danny Homan. “But the Missouri constitution says otherwise. We are fighting this unjust and illegal attack on the rights of our members every step of the way, and we are confident that justice will prevail.”
Missourians recently rejected a private sector right-to-work law by a 2-to-1 margin, proving that working people won’t be intimated, and that they remain steadfast in their willingness to defend the rights they have earned.