Thursday, March 14, 2013

Editorial: Missouri Senate blames unions for economic woes. Oh, please. : Stltoday

Editorial: Missouri Senate blames unions for economic woes. Oh, please. : Stltoday

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What makes the debate over Senate Bill 29 such a farce is that its sponsor, Sen. Dan Brown, R-Rolla, couldn’t even properly explain the bill or its rationale when challenged on the Senate floor by Sen. Scott Sifton, D-Affton, during several hours of debate Monday and Tuesday.

Known colloquially as “Doc” Brown, the Republican senator and veterinarian was merely the stooge chosen by deep-pocketed donors to advance their agenda at the expense of the little people. We’re sure he’s kinder to animals.

Mr. Brown, along with other supporters of the union-bashing bill, including Speaker of the House Tim Jones, R-Eureka, have the gall to suggest all they are doing is protecting the freedom of workers.

Never mind that employees in Missouri — all of them — already have the right to opt out of the union, and limit the fees paid to unions to those expenses that go directly to collective bargaining and protecting employee wages and work rules.

Mr. Brown and his so-called small government allies actually want to make government bigger, by prescribing in explicit detail, down to the font size, new paperwork that must be enacted by governments to suppress union political power.

The proof to the deception of SB 29 comes in its last section, which exempts police and firefighter unions from its provisions. During the debate Monday night, Mr. Sifton pressed Mr. Brown on why, if the bill was really about helping workers, didn’t the same “freedoms” need to be applied to police officers and firefighters?

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