Sen. Phil Griego is one of the key Senate votes on the issue of “right to work.” While I regularly appear on Harvey Twite’s radio show on KEDU FM in Ruidoso (Fridays from about 8:30 to 9am), I asked Harvey if I could come on this morning to discuss the impending vote in the House on “right to work” and what Sen. Griego and others in the Senate can do to make sure that “right to work” receives a fair hearing and a vote in that body. Listen to a podcast of the discussion here.
Sen. Griego wound up calling in and we had a good, direct discussion of the issue. Clearly, Griego is in a difficult position on the “right to work” bill. On one hand he knows that “right to work” is extremely popular (60%-26% according to the ABQ Journal) and 70%-19% according to polling commissioned by Rio Grande Foundation. On the other hand, Griego is understandably wary about standing up to the unions and Majority Leader Michael Sanchez.
Ultimately, Griego changed the subject from “right to work” to tax reform which RGF does indeed support, but which is nothing more than a diversion from “right to work” at this point in terms of the legislative process. I did discuss the issue w/ bill sponsor Bill Sharer on the New Mexico Freedom Hour recently.
One way or another, the next 48 hours will truly represent a turning point for New Mexico’s economy. Are we going to continue down the same path of relative economic unfreedom (check out the following economic freedom ranking map below from our friends at the John Locke Foundation):
And, is New Mexico, despite its beautiful weather and great offerings, going to continue to lose population as it and 5 other non-“right to work states” did in 2014?
In canvassing for support of the RTW bill in the NM legislature, I have found that most are in support of RTW, but do not know much about it. When the details are discussed and some history such as prior passage by the Democratic legislature and then vetoing by the governor, Anaya and King, they are surprised. Several have been or are members of unions and openly discuss how much negative impact they have upon the workplace and some have agreed to go public with their dislike of the unions. Retired postal workers have said that the featherbedding, general work slowdown, and terrible management are all factors in the union structure.
The numbers that I have seen in supporting RTW have been higher than what I see from the polls. This canvassing is being done in Rio Rancho, Senator John Sapien’s district.
From my own hiring experience, interviewing union members showed that they did not like the unions and described them as “job killers”.
It is utterly amazing that with the union workforce only 6% but they have 90+% influence in the legislature. It is quite obvious that this is not a “democratic” representation and that their influence does not follow normal procedures.
It will be interesting to see if the Rand Paul national RTW bill goes very far.
Thank you for your insights Tom.