One of the most misunderstood issues in management/labor relations today is "right-to-work."

Right-to-work (referred to by its detractors as right-to-work-for-less) applies to situations where a union represents the workers in a specific workplace and bargains on their behalf for wages and working conditions.

How does a workplace become a union workplace? Under federal law, union organizers may contact workers and try to convince them of the benefits of union representation. Management is not supposed to interfere with these contacts, nor are union organizers allowed to do their work on company time.

Workers sign cards asking for an election, which is held under the auspices of the National Labor Relations Board. If a majority of the workers (voting by secret ballot) choose union representation, then the workplace is unionized.

Under the federal Taft-Hartley Act, states can opt to be "free bargaining" states or "right-to-work" states. Twenty-nine states have chosen the former, with 21 falling in the latter category.

In free bargaining states, a worker who takes a job in a unionized workplace need not join a union, but may be required to pay for services received from the union. This is based on the premise that since the union bargains with management for wages and working conditions on behalf of all the workers, it would not be right to allow any worker to receive the benefits of union bargaining without paying union dues.

In right-to-work states, a worker who takes a job in a unionized workplace may choose not to join the union and cannot be required to pay service fees. The non-union worker still receives the same wages and working conditions as the union workers, but without paying union dues.

The union must also absorb the expense of representing the non-union worker in any grievance proceedings.

SF 141 was an attempt to partially redress the inequity of right-to-work by allowing unions to bargain with employers to require payment of a "fair share service fee" equal to the non-union worker’s share of union expenses related to bargaining under the National Labor Relations Act.

SF 141 also allowed the option of recovering unpaid fees from a non-union worker through a civil action, but prohibited the union or employer from discriminating against any worker for failing to pay.

SF 141 was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee, where it was held until it was too late to be considered on the floor. A Senate rule requires a committee vote to be recorded even though it is too late for the bill to go forward, so at that point, an official vote was recorded on a technical "do not pass" motion.

The vote listed below is the Senate Appropriations Committee vote on the merits of SF 141, taken just before the vote on the "do not pass" motion. (Note: The vote on the merits was recorded by those present and does not appear in the official legislative digest.)