Right-to-work group includes former Tennessee Gov. Haslam

(The Center Square) – Former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam will serve as the treasurer for a new right-to-work advocacy group that will be promoting the passage of a state constitutional amendment next year.

The group, the Yes on 1 Committee, will be advocating for Amendment 1, the right-to-work constitutional amendment that will be on the ballot Nov. 8, 2022.

Tennessee has had a right-to-work law since 1947, but the amendment would solidify the practice by adding it to the Tennessee Constitution.

“It’s a significant process that sends a big message to companies that might want to relocate here,” said Justin Owen, a committee member who is president and chief executive officer of the Beacon Center policy organization.

Right-to-work laws state no worker is required to join a union as a term of employment. The constitutional amendment would prohibit discrimination against workers based on their “membership in, affiliation with, resignation from, or refusal to join or affiliate with any labor union or employee organization.”

The AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the U.S., believes right-to-work laws “tilt the balance toward big corporations and further rig the system at the expense of working families.” Supporters also say unions help create more equal opportunities for minorities and contribute to safer workplaces.

Joining Haslam and Owen on the Yes on 1 committee are Jim Brown of the National Federation of Independent Business, Bradley Jackson of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and Josh Thomas, a political operative who will lead the committee’s day-to-day operations.

In order to reach the ballot, the amendment had to pass the Legislature twice. It passed the Legislature a second time last spring, when it required and received a two-thirds majority vote to pass.

The goal of the amendment, Owen said, is to combat the threat nationally from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is attempting to repeal right-to-work laws throughout the country.

Currently, it would require a majority vote in the Tennessee Legislature to repeal the law. If the amendment passes next fall, however, it would require the two Legislature votes and a ballot vote to repeal it.

“The federal effort through the PRO Act to eliminate 27 state right-to-work laws has the full attention of small businesses in Tennessee,” said Brown, who is state director of the NFIB and a Yes on 1 Committee member. “It’s why nearly 75 percent of NFIB members support enshrining our 1947 right-to-work law in our state constitution, according to our most recent survey. They believe worker choice and worker freedom is a Tennessee value worth preserving for many generations.”

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