House passes bill to block state worker union fee collection

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri House rebuffed Gov. Bob Holden on Wednesday, passing a measure that would bar deduction of union negotiating fees from the paychecks of state workers who choose not to join a union.

The unusual resolution, intended to block enforcement of an administrative rule, is an outgrowth of Holden's June 2001 executive order granting collective bargaining rights to thousands of state employees.

Holden's order also allowed union service fees, also called "fair share" fees, to be charged to all employees within bargaining units whether they join the union or not. The fees are intended to cover unions' negotiating costs, because all employees benefit from the contracts they reach.

A pending state rule change would set up a procedure for collecting that money.

The generally partisan 85-67 vote in the Republican-led House sent the resolution blocking enforcement of the rule to the Senate. If passed by the Senate, the resolution would go to Holden, who could veto it.

"This is not an anti-union resolution. This is not an anti-collective bargaining resolution," said Rep. Richard Byrd, R-Kirkwood. Byrd chairs the legislature's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, where the resolution originated.

Negotiated in contractsByrd said the pending rule violates a state law allowing paycheck deductions only if employees agree to them.

"Not only is there a dearth of authorization, there is a specific prohibition against this regulation," Byrd said as two days of House debate wrapped up. "You have a statute that says you can't do this to state employees."

The fees are included in contracts negotiated by the Service Employees International Union, Local 2000, and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees union, Council 72.

Together, the two bargaining units cover about 6,000 patient-care providers and professionals in the Mental Health Department, Missouri veterans homes and the Department of Corrections.

Prospective employees have been given the choice since Sept. 1 of joining the union, paying union services fees or not taking the state job in those units. The fees have not been yet collected because the rule is not final.

Opponents of the resolution said it was only fair that state employees in bargaining units help cover union costs.

To block the proposed rule change, the Republican-led legislature must send the measure to Holden, a Democrat, within 30 working days. Holden would probably veto the measure, and the legislature then would need a two-thirds majority to override a veto.