The Missouri Supreme Court reversed a lower court ruling that paused a law that allegedly dismantles worker’s unions, according to media reports.
The 2018 law limits the bargaining rights of labor union members despite being guaranteed by the state constitution, according to Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem’s 2019 opinion.
But Supreme Court Judge W. Brent Powell wrote in a 31-page opinion that Beetem’s ruling is erroneous.
“The state is still able to bargain with unions in good faith for various terms and conditions of employment consistent with at-will employment,” Powell stated.
Some 13,465 state employees who are members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; Local 6355 of the Communications Workers of America; and Local 1 of the Service Employees International Union are impacted.
Under the law, it is easier for business owners to employ, terminate and reward workers by ending testing as a way of qualifying for jobs and withdrawing the appeals process for disciplined or terminated merit system workers.
The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported that union workers view the law as a defeat because it eliminated some grievance processes and at-will workers can now be terminated at any time.
“How many write-ups they have to have before they can be let go may not be included as a subject of bargaining and if you’re an at-will employer that enters into another contract that says you have to do this, then they probably would have to honor the contract rather than the at-will employment status,” said Rusty Brown, southern director of the Freedom Foundation, a union watchdog.
Another law that would have required regular union recertification elections was determined to be unconstitutional by the state's highest court in 2021.
"Every year, unions file an application with the state for re-certification," Brown told the St. Louis Record. "Included on that form is how many members they represent and how many of them are dues-paying members. If the number of dues-paying members is below a certain percentage, it would trigger an election. It would have been a way to hold unions accountable to their members."