State Representative Chris Todd: Right to Work Amendment Is a ‘Fundamental Right of Individuals to Choose Where They Spend Their Money’

Live from Music Row, Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – guest host Gulbransen welcomed (R-TN-73) Representative Chris Todd to the newsmaker line to discuss the importance of instilling the right to work law in the Tennessee constitution and solidifying a citizen’s right to choose where they spend their money. The Beacon Center’s Megan Podsiedlik was also in-studio.

Gulbransen: I’m just going to give you the opportunity to make the case why you sponsored the amendment, and why it has to pass on November 8th.

Todd: Well, this is extremely important to me as a small business owner and as a matter of fact, as the son of a union worker for many, many years. My dad was a union worker, and I have family currently that work for labor unions.

But this is important because it is a fundamental right of individuals to choose where they spend their money and who they associate with, and that’s why it needs to be in the Constitution. We have heard some folks argue that the only reason we’re doing this is to protect from the federal government, and that’s not actually accurate at all.

We’re protecting ourselves from future legislators that may decide to side with labor unions and try to take away people’s right to work in a free workshop without being forced to join some kind of labor union or other organization. It’s pure and simple what it is. It’s a fundamental right, and it should be enshrined in our Constitution.

Gulbransen: What are the dangers if this does not pass?

Todd: The danger, I think, is primarily if we see our legislature sometime in the future, go bluer, go more Democrat, and there will be a concerted effort, just like there has been in Virginia very recently, to overturn this law that has been on the books for over 75 years.

So that is a real possibility. And then that would force people to join labor unions in a workshop whether they want to or not. And to me, that’s just not right for folks to be forced to do that.

Gulbransen: Of course, I lived in Virginia for 15 years, and for a long time, everyone was proud of the state’s right to work law in Virginia, and then they tried to put it into the Constitution at the wrong time with the wrong electorate, and it set everything back a while, and there’s been a movement to overturn that.

So the timing, in my opinion, right now, I think the wind on the side of common sense Conservatives’ backs right now with the national mood and everything.

And of course, we’re in a very conservative state, and of course, you have some minor people out there with conflicting messages on the issue, so we’re just hammering it home so everybody understands this is not just a conservative issue. It’s a common sense issue that really protects your working families and small businesses.

Todd: Absolutely. There’s no question about that. And it’s kind of funny. I’ve had a few individuals come to me with quotes from some people that they may follow on Facebook or something like that, that are questioning it.

And they’re saying that this was run really fast and it’s not done properly. This has been a four-year process. Where were these people during that process is what I want to know. Where were they to add any comments at that time or ask any questions? Why at the last minute?

That really takes away from their credibility, in my opinion. And the polling that’s been done on this, the people get this. The average person on the street gets this in the state of Tennessee.

This is an important and basic fundamental right that we should have to associate with an organization or not and should not be forced to.

And so I feel very good about it. As you said, the wind is at our backs and we feel like this is the right time to do this and make sure that Tennessee stays the right to work state and is pro-business so that folks can be employed.

Businesses employ people, businesses drive our economy. And we all rely on them. The supply chain issue argument that we’ve had for the last few years, last couple of years, it’s all business driven.

So if we have businesses that are hurting or going to other states, it is going to cause us problems here in Tennessee. So we want to remain a business-friendly state so that people have good-paying jobs and good lives.

Megan Podsiedlik: We’ve seen other states, you’re mentioning other states. We’ve seen that we have about half the states are right to work states. We’ve seen a lot of stuff going in the opposite direction of right to work surrounding us right now.

In Tennesse, you said this has been something that has been coming down the pipes for about four years, but we’ve seen Tennessee workers reject unionization at, like the Volkswagen plant here.

Was there a specific time why this came up four years ago when you started to work on this, and all of a sudden you really started to dig in because of what you were seeing going on in our state and the surroundings?

Todd: I think the surrounding states probably drove me more than anything else to see those states that we felt like we’re pretty solid in right to work.

We’d have unions come in and try to stir things up against those laws and then lie to the people and say they’re actually for right to work, which is just phenomenal. Look over here.

Don’t look at what I’m doing. They’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars this year to try to fight this effort and try to confuse people about what it is.

They’re even claiming that it has to do with your at will employment, whether people can be fired or hired for certain reasons.

And it has nothing to do with that whatsoever. So I think it’s just we want to clarify it’s the right moment in time. And you’re correct. We’ve seen workers in factories and other places reject unionization, even when the owner was very much for it.

And so it’s just a common sense type approach that I think most people get and it’s a basic fundamental right, and we want to make sure that it’s taken care of once and for all.

Gulbransen: I want to hammer down on this and push back against the notion, and we’ve done it a little bit. But explain this four-year process.

The Johnny come lately’s of the world who weren’t here four years ago are the ones who think it was rushed because they weren’t paying attention and they were living in another state. So what does the four-year process look like when you’re putting in a constitutional amendment like this?

Todd: In this particular case, in the 111th General Assembly, which started four years ago, this coming January, before years ago, this bill was filed, and it has to pass. It has to go through a certain number of readings and a certain number of committee and then floor votes that passes in the first General Assembly.

Then it lays on the desk until the next general assembly, which could be two years later or one year later, depending on the time it would pass it. But anyway, the 112th General Assembly picked it up two years ago now, and it had to pass again through the same process, but with a greater margin.

A two-thirds majority had to pass this in both chambers, the House and the Senate. And I’m only referring to the House side at first, but it has to do the same thing on the Senate side, and then it goes on the next gubernatorial ballot.

So that’s why the timing is important, is to make sure that we do it and get it passed at the right time so that it has the right public notice and everything else to line up with the next gubernatorial election, which is this month.

And then, as you mentioned earlier, the vote count for the citizens to pass it and permanently put it in the constitution has to be 50 percent plus one of the number that actually vote in the gubernatorial election.

Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:

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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Chris Todd” by Chris Todd for State Representative.