Missouri's "Paycheck Protection" Racket

A new EPI Policy Center report finds that Missouri's two proposed "paycheck protection" bills actually do little in the way of protection. In fact, the legislation would silence working Americans' political voice, while leaving corporations free to spend unlimited amounts of money in elections.

Missouri's Senate Bill 29 and House Bill 64 – what union members and their supporters have dubbed "paycheck deception" bills – are part of a nationwide effort to restrict the role of collective bargaining in politics. Supported by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the National Federation of Independent Business, and other corporate lobbies, both bills would make it more difficult for private and public sector employees to authorize how their union dues are spent.

SB29 prevents the payroll deductions for union dues unless each individual worker signs an authorization form every year. The bill also imposes unnecessary and taxing paperwork requirements on public union employees who want to make voluntary political contributions.

Similarly, HB64 requires annual written authorization before any dues are used for political purposes.

"These 'paycheck protection' proposals reflect corporate lobbies' unabashed attempts to enact a broad corporate economic agenda by crippling the ability of workers to participate in the political process," said EPI Research Associate Gordon Lafer. "Because the labor movement is the only vehicle through which millions of working Americans collectively pool sufficient resources – in the form of both financial contributions and organized volunteer efforts – to serve as an effective political counterweight to this agenda, eliminating union political activity promises to leave the corporate lobbies with an increasingly free hand to shape economic policy at the expense of workers."

Read the full report.