Massachusetts State Workers Get Majority Sign-Up

by James Parks, Sep 21, 2007

State workers in Massachusetts will soon be able to join a union without interference by their bosses. After several delays, the state legislature has sent to the governor a bill that would enable state employees to exercise their freedom to join a union by signing union authorization cards, similar to the majority sign-up provisions for private-sector workers in the federal Employee Free Choice Act.

Under majority sign-up, an employer agrees to recognize a union if a majority of workers sign union authorization cards. Gov. Deval Patrick (D) is expected to sign the bill soon.

Last year, both houses approved majority sign-up for state workers, but then-Gov. Mitt Romney (R) vetoed the bill.

Along with nixing the workers’ rights legislation, Romney, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, also vetoed legislation that would have boosted the state’s minimum wage. Also after winning passage of his flawed state health care plan that shifts health care costs to working families, Romney used a line item veto to block a provision in the bill requiring employers who do not provide health insurance for their workers to pay a small amount into a state fund. 

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