Late last week, Senator Keith Regier introduced Senate Bill 89. If passed and signed into law, SB 89 would strip Montana workers of their First Amendment rights, allow the government to tell workers what they can and can’t do with their own paycheck, and create a bureaucratic nightmare that will sow confusion and disrupt the day-to-day business of state and local governments, including schools. To make matters worse, Senator Regier’s legislation was contrived by an out-of-state bill mill bent on silencing workers and eliminating essential government services.

MFPE President Amanda Curtis has released the following statement in response to Senator Reiger’s reckless legislative agenda:

“SB 89 is the very definition of government overreach into the lives of frontline workers like nurses, educators, police, and state troopers who protect, serve, educate, and care for Montana citizens. 

SB 89 sows discord, undoing a century of labor stability and peace in Montana, and creates chaos in Montana’s school districts and local and state governments.

SB 89 also underscores Senator Regier’s fundamental misunderstanding of labor law. Unions are worker democracies, no one is ever forced to join a union, and union members voluntarily agree to pay dues.”

MFPE calls on the Montana legislature and Governor Gianforte to reject SB 89 as reckless, unnecessary, and unconstitutional. Montanans who have delivered essential services to every Montana community during a global pandemic deserve better and will not stand for this kind of attack on our fundamental freedoms.”