Study: Right-to-Work Law Could Disproportionately Impact Black Workers
Date Posted: May 24, 2018
Posted In: Workforce,
From Public News Service: As Republican lawmakers advance plans to protect the right-to-work legislation they passed last year, a study shows the policy could hurt black workers most.
The law, which deals with banning mandatory union fees, did not take effect because Democrats and union workers gathered enough signatures to force a vote on whether to keep the law. But the debate continues.
Valerie Wilson, director of the program on race, ethnicity and the economy at the Economic Policy Institute, said their analysis found black Missourians would be disproportionately impacted by the law.
“The reason this is disproportionately impacting black workers is because black workers are a larger share of the unionized workforce than they are the total workforce,” Wilson said. “The black workers are more likely to be union members.”
According to the study, 13.9 percent of all black workers are unionized in Missouri, compared with 10.3 percent of all white workers, and 9.3 percent of all Hispanic workers. Voters will decide whether to make Missouri a right-to-work state in the August primary election, rather than in November.