A week before election day, elected Democrat leaders in Memphis are rallying opposition to Amendment 1 on this year’s ballot.
The Republican-led initiative would add a decades-old so-called “right to work law” to the Tennessee Constitution.
The statute was enacted just years after the end of World War II, in 1947, and prohibits employers from requiring workers to join a union or pay affiliated dues.
Republican Governor Bill Lee, former Republican Governor Bill Haslam and other supporters say putting the law in the state constitution would protect it from possible changes in the future.
But that’s why pro-union Democrats like Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen say it’s a problem.
“By putting it in the Constitution, what you do is take away from the elected representatives – the legislators – the decision of whether or not they want to have this type of law in Tennessee,” Cohen said during a press conference in front of the National Civil Rights Museum on Tuesday.
Cohen spoke alongside Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and Shelby County District Attorney, Steve Mulroy, also Democrats.
Mulroy says Amendment 1 is meant to further restrict the labor movement in this state.
“You’re creating a free rider problem, where people who are not paying dues are nonetheless getting the benefit of union representation – fair wages, safe working conditions, good benefits, reasonable hours,” he said.
But, proponents say right to work laws are important for economic growth and giving workers options. Even if the amendment does not pass, the law itself would still remain current policy.
