A Missouri Congressman has proposed legislation that would require unions to stop deducting dues from the paychecks of federal employees.
Republican U.S. Rep. Eric Burlison (MO-7) introduced H.R.4971 last month to amend Title 5 of the U.S. Code.
“What paycheck protection does is force federal government employee unions to collect their own dues,” said Jeremy Cady, state director with Americans for Prosperity (AFP)-MO. “Americans for Prosperity supports Freedom of Association so if an individual wants to voluntarily join a union and pay dues to that union, they can do so but this bill puts the onus on the union to collect their own dues and takes that onus off of taxpayers.”
Congress is currently adjourned but is scheduled to reconvene next month.
Also known as the Paycheck Protection Act, H.R.4971 is pending in the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
“Getting it through the House is probably going to be a nice strong battle given the makeup of the Senate right now and the president we have at the moment,” Cady told the St. Louis Record. "The Senate has the Democrat majority and President Biden has often shown that he sides with unions more so than not so it would be an uphill battle.”
On a state level, the Missouri legislature approved HB 1413 in 2018 but when then Gov. Eric Greitens signed the paycheck protection bill, a coalition of seven labor unions sued, according to media reports.
A circuit court ruled in favor of the unions and the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the decision on appeal in 2021.
"Unfortunately, the courts threw it out because it had a carve out for first responders, police officers, and firemen and they said the law had to be equally applicable to all public employees not just teachers and so on," Cady added. "If the state of Missouri wants to have paycheck protection, we would need to have a legislator file the language again without the carve out for first responders this time."
States that have approved legislation limiting the deduction of union dues from the payroll of public employees include Florida, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee.
“The Freedom Foundation has seen how unions use their unrivaled access to employees’ paychecks to coerce them into membership and lock them into nearly irrevocable dues payments,” said Aaron With, CEO of the Freedom Foundation, a union watchdog. “By forcing unions to collect their own dues, this important legislation would make unions more accountable to their members and give federal workers greater control over their financial relationship with unions.”