Rep. Larry Lockman (R-Amherst) is sponsoring LDs 404 and 489
and Rep. Joel Stetkis (R-Canaan) is sponsoring LD 1351 – all bills
dealing with public employers. These three pieces of legislation imply, in
various ways, that the employees of public institutions not be required to join
a union as a condition of employment.
LD 1319 is sponsored by Rep. Karleton Ward (R-Dedham). His bill
would prevent public employees from collecting compensation on days when they
participated in activities involving their business agents.
Sen. Andre Cushing (R-Hampden) is also proposing a pair of bills
that were heard at Monday’s public hearing. The first, LD 1010, would
exclude negotiations around the use of private contractors from collective
bargaining proceedings with public entities. However, the marquis bill in
question may be Sen. Cushing’s LD 1353 which is the only one of these six
proposals to directly address private employer unionization and stands as a
fairly straightforward “Right to Work” bill. The legislation would, of
course, exclude membership in a union as a condition of employment with private
entities.
The hearing was heavily attended, lasting through the morning and
into the afternoon. However, it did not draw excessively large crowds.
Estimates placed the opposition, mainly composed of union members and officers,
as outnumbering proponents of the six bills roughly “3 or 4 to 1”. The Maine AFL-CIO
is expected to make a bigger demonstration of opposition on the morning of Wednesday, May 6 which will
occur before these bills’ afternoon work sessions.
