Voters will determine today whether Republicans will take control of the Kentucky House for the first time in nearly a century. Someone closely watching House races is Jeff Cone, Vice President of the United Autoworkers Union in Bowling Green. He fears Kentucky will become a right-to-work state under a GOP-lead House.
Republicans argue Kentucky is losing jobs to neighboring states with right-to-work laws, but Cone said they’re not the kinds of jobs Kentucky wants to attract.
“These new jobs that are coming in, they’re lower wages, little to no benefits. You know, yeah, it’s fine to be bringing in new industries but at extremely reduced wages,” said Cone.
Right-to-work legislation is a major tenant of House Republicans’ agenda should the GOP gain enough seats to lead the Kentucky House. Republicans already control the state Senate.
Kentucky is one of the last remaining states in the South that does not have a right-to-work law which allows workers the freedom to decide whether or not they want to join a union and does not make union membership a condition of employment.
