HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Gov. Tom Corbett said Monday that Pennsylvania apparently lacks the political will to become a "right-to-work" state, a key issue for conservatives as Republicans in fellow industrial state Michigan prepare to pass such a law over the protests of organized labor.
Corbett, a first-term Republican, has never made right-to-work legislation a priority while he battles unions on other issues, and he did not say whether he would support such a bill if it reached his desk. Right-to-work bills languished in the GOP-controlled Legislature without a vote during the recently-completed two-year session.
"There is not much of a movement to do it and lot of it has to do with the politics at the local level, at the county level and at the state level," Corbett said during a regular appearance on the Dom Giordano Program on WPHT-AM in Philadelphia.
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"Until I see a strong will to get legislation passed, we have a lot of other things that we have to get passed," the governor said.
Right-to-work bills prohibit requirements that employees join a union or pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. Supporters say it is an issue of freedom of association for workers and improving the business climate. Critics contend the real intent is to bleed unions of money and bargaining power.
Amid protests by unionized nurses, autoworkers and others, Michigan could become the 24th state with a right-to-work law once House and Senate Republicans reconcile wording in separate bills passed speedily last week.
It is the latest blow delivered by Republicans to organized labor in a northern industrial state. Wisconsin curtailed collective bargaining for most public employees and Indiana enacted a right-to-work law this year.
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