Missouri lawmakers [official website] on Thursday sent a “right to work” proposal [SB 19 materials] to Governor Eric Greitens [official website], who is expected to sign the measure into law. The bill will prevent unions from requiring workers to pay dues [St. Louis Post-Dispatch report] as a condition of employment. Supporters expect the measure to help with job growth. Others believe it is simply being implemented to weaken union influence. The measure had been previously passed [JURIST report] but was vetoed by former governor Jay Nixon. Once the measure is signed into law, Missouri will become the twenty-eighth right-to-work state [St. Louis Post-Dispatch report].

Right-to-work laws have become more prevalent across the country in recent years. Earlier this month the Kentucky House of Representatives advanced a bill [JURIST report] that would allow workers to avoid paying dues at union workplaces. The West Virginia legislature passed the WV Workplace Freedom Act in February 2016 [JURIST report], overruling a veto by the Democratic Governor Earl Ray Tomblin the day before. West Virginia became the twenty-sixth state in the country with a right-to-work law, a law that bars employers from requiring that their employees pay union fees. In May the Wisconsin Court of Appeals stayed [JURIST report] a lower court’s decision striking down Wisconsin’s “right to work” law, thus reinstating it at least for the time being.