Gregg Hough: Voters should read SB61 to understand it fully

To The Daily Sun,

There is a big, three-day House legislative session coming up April 7-9, at the sports complex in Bedford. Many bills will be addressed as well as the governor's proposed budget. Among the bill that will be voted upon is SB61, more commonly known as the Right to Work Bill. There has been a lot of buzz about the bill, and not much by way of accuracy. If you are interested in this legislation I encourage you to visit the New Hampshire General Court website and in the bill search window type in SB61. There you will be able to read the bill for yourself.

I’d like to take this opportunity to clear up some misinformation that has been out there about SB61. First misconception is that unions already have optional union membership. This is partly accurate, as public workforce unions according to federal law do not require membership as terms of employment so this bill if it becomes law would not affect law enforcement, firefighters, teachers and the like. It would however affect private-sector unions which the law currently does not address.

The effect to those unions would be that they could not by law force anyone to join a union or pay dues as a requirement of employment. The second misnomer is that “freeloaders” would benefit from a union contract without contributing to that union. Again, not exactly accurate. The agreement reached by employer and union is voluntary and up to the parties involved. If the union negotiates a contract that represents all workers in the shop then yes that could happen. However, the union can negotiate to represent only union members in the shop, rendering that argument moot. It is totally up to the parties involved and not the government.

The last misnomer I will address here is that this bill is a union buster and will destroy the effectiveness of the union’s bargaining position. I’d like to reference a fellow representative who is on the labor committee with me and is a 30+ year member of a union. His union (a pilots union) has an approximate 99.5 percent voluntary membership and he believes he receives great value for the money he spends in dues. His union is strong, as are his wages and benefits and he endorses this bill as do I. I believe this legislation will make unions stronger, our workforce will be stronger, and our New Hampshire advantage will be stronger. I hope this helps to clear up some things, but again if you go to the NH General Court website you can read the bill for yourself.

State Rep. Gregg Hough

Laconia