TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Trish Muir has been working in the airline industry for about 28 years. She said about 17 of those years she was not a part of a union.
However, when she joined Teamsters Local Union Number 104, she started to notice she got higher pay, more sick time, and more vacation time.
She said being a part of a union gives people more power to negotiate pay, benefits, and sometimes a work schedule.
Arizona is a right to work state, which means employers cannot force employees to join a union. Representatives Athena Salman, Oscar de los Santos, and Stephanie Stahl Hamilton introduced HCR 2008, which would get rid of the Right to Work law.
Muir said she would prefer Arizona to transition to being a free bargaining state.
“That would give workers the opportunity to organize and collectively bargain,” she said.
She’s the chair of the Pima Area Labor Federation.
Their legislative chair Christopher Cheely works in the railroad industry and said there are union benefits for healthcare, short term disability and retirement. He said paying into a union is worth it.
“I am more than happy to pay that as part of my union dues because it provides my family protections,” Cheely said.
He said if the right to work law were to be scrapped, people would still be able to choose to take on a job that is unionized.
“To do certain things you should have to be part of a union like be an apprentice, go through that program and learn,” Cheely said.
Jacob Huebert, the president of the Liberty Justice Center, is an advocate of right to work states and said people should have a choice as to whether to join a union.
He said repealing the Right to Work law would hurt businesses’ ability to operate in Arizona.
“That could prompt employers to consider going to states that do have right to work laws,” Huebert said.
He said that could hurt the economy here in Arizona but he supports people’s choice to join a union.
“That’s their right but if you don’t want to be a part of a union, you shouldn’t be forced into that,” Huebert said.
Lawmakers should bring some sort of movement to the bill in about two weeks, whether they push it forward or scrap the bill altogether.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
