On May 25th the New Hampshire legislature will attempt to override Governor John Lynch's veto of the recently passed "right to work" law.
House Speaker Bill O'Brien says he is "cautiously optimistic" that he can gain the two-thirds majority to do so.
This would be a landmark victory for the right-to-work movement. All other Northeastern states operate under forced-union rules, so the Granite State would gain a decisive competitive advantage over its neighbors in attracting investment and jobs. "Passing right to work on top of not having an income tax could make us the Hong Kong of the region," Mr. O'Brien says. The precedent would put enormous pressure on Maine and Massachusetts to follow. We assume Vermont is hopeless and prefers to be a tourist and natural history museum.
Right-to-work laws don't outlaw unions. They simply allow each individual worker to decide whether or not to join the union. In compulsory-union states, workers employed in unionized workplaces are required to have union dues withheld from their paychecks as a condition of employment, so there's big money at stake here for unions.
John Lynch is a Democrat. The New Hampshire legislature has a Republican majority in both houses.
Comments