Republicans in Missouri have been trying for years to pass a “right-to-work” law that would cripple unions, and they finally did.
But unions have gathered over 300,000 signatures to put the law to a referendum.
Labor unions had to collect a little more than 100,000 signatures from across Missouri by Aug. 28 if they wanted to put a repeal of right-to-work on the 2018 ballot.
On Friday, they turned in more than 310,000 signatures.
Republicans have sought to turn Missouri into a right-to-work state for decades. In February, they got their wish when Gov. Eric Greitens signed legislation allowing employees in unionized workplaces to opt out of paying unions for the cost of being represented.
But now the law is in jeopardy, and a yearlong battle that will likely cost millions of dollars is about to commence.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article167997712.html#storylink=cpy
Diane Ravitch's blog 
If you are in Missouri, the “Show Me” state, here are the Republicans legislators in Missouri who are members of the union- loathing and union-busting American Legislative Exchange Council—ALEC.
House of Representatives: Tim Jones, Majority Leader; Steve Tilley, R, Speaker of the House; Sue Allen; Stanley Cox; Scott Dieckhaus; John Diehl; Tony Dugger; Sue Entlicher; Dave Hinson, Cole McNary; Kathleen Meiners; Therese Sander; Rodney Schad; Jason T. Smith; Billy Pat Wright;
Missouri Senate: Rob Mayer, President Pro Tempore; Jane Cunningham; Brian Munzlinger; Brian Nieves; Mike Parson.
Information from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_American_Legislative_Exchange_Counci
Make your views known. Collective bargaining is one of the few ways that teachers can exercise some control over their working conditions.
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Your list is very out of date. Some of the people listed are no longer in the legislature.
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They may win the referendum . But all of this would be unnecessary if they had won elections. Flabbergasting how Republicans are able to get the media to call them populist .When their policy is anything but for the people . Which also shows you what a failure the Democrats have been.
http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/347006-how-missouri-previewed-democrats-midwestern-slump
Mike Lofgren had an interesting piece on the Mid West as well.
“What has happened to the Midwest has been replicated in the regions of other developed countries with declining industries. The fading ore and steel-producing regions of northeastern France opted for the National Front in recent elections. The old industrial north of England, weakening since the shipbuilding and textile crash of the 1920s, chose UKIP and Brexit. The worn-out industrial and coal-mining region of Silesia in Poland hopes for improvement from the proto-fascist Law and Justice Party.
And that is the principal flaw of Lauck’s thesis. The topics that Lauck writes about—the cultural and intellectual trends of a region—must at some basic level be influenced by the industrial or commercial changes in the society that gave rise to those trends.”
http://www.mikelofgren.net/midwest-cant-catch-break/
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My guess is that some significant money wa spent by rightwing groups to brand and market reactionary policies as “populist” and “reform.”
Trump is a populist like Tom Watson. Appealing to the basest instincts.
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The younger generations are clueless about unions and their necessity because they unfortunately have been subjected to a steady diet of perpetual anti-union propaganda in the media. They are told that unions kill jobs and that unions force industries to go out of business and locate in the right to work (for less) states or overseas. Germany is doing very well with a strong union movement and its works councils, unthinkable in the US. It’s no coincidence that with the busting of unions we also have wage stagnation, massive income inequality, part time jobs galore, permanent temp jobs and workers falsely classified as private contractors so that management does not have to pay for benefits, health care, paid leave, paid vacations, overtime, Social Security and Medicare benefits and pensions. What’s a pension? What’s paid sick leave? Meanwhile in Scandinavia, the unionization rates range from 51% to well above 75% in the case of Finland.
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Those Alec Rethugs here in Missouri know that they cannot win a referendum on “right to work for less”. In the past they have been thwarted by having a “divided house” politically speaking. Now that the Rethugs have all three of the government’s law making components in hand they are passing xtian fundie regressive religious right agenda attempting to take The Show Me State to where Kansas now is.
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Ohio won against ALEC and Kasich in a referendum about right-to-work. Two-thirds of voters rejected the Rethug’s law a couple of years ago.
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We are living: Tyranny by Corporations … $$$$$$$$$!
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