Gov. Matt Bevin and Kentucky Labor Sec. Derrick Ramsey have filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the AFL-CIO and Teamsters challenging Kentucky’s Right-to-Work Act.
They call the lawsuit ‘frivolous’ and say it threatens to hurt Kentucky’s families, robbing them of high-paying job opportunities. The new law protects employees in the Commonwealth from being forced to pay union dues in order to keep their jobs.
“Companies like Braidy Industries made it clear from the beginning that right-to-work laws are a major factor in deciding to locate to Kentucky,” said Amanda Stamper, the Governor’s Communications Director. “What purpose does this lawsuit serve, except to hurt working families that are depending on these jobs? This ridiculous legal action by the AFL-CIO and Teamsters will not quell the momentum building across the state. Kentucky is winning, and this will not slow us down.”
Seventy years ago today, with the enactment of the Taft-Hartley Act, Congress authorized states to enact Right-to-Work laws.
The legislature’s adoption of Right-to-Work and other pro-growth policies has already borne fruit in the form of $6.7 billion in new investments and the promise of thousands of new jobs in the Commonwealth in just the first six months of the year, including a $1.3 billion investment in the Ashland area that will create hundreds of high-paying jobs, Bevin and Ramsey argue in the motion.
The motion also says studies examining Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data show that right-to-work states report faster per capita income growth, greater capital expenditures, lower unemployment, fewer work stoppages and faster growth in manufacturing and non-agricultural jobs than non-right-to-work states.
Click here to see the 41-page motion to dismiss.
