Tumi: New Hampshire House passes anti-union bill targeting state workers

It's been less than six weeks since New Hampshire Republicans failed to override Democratic Gov. John Lynch's veto of a so-called "right to work" law, which would force union members to pay the costs of representing coworkers who chose not to join a union.

Thwarted in that, Republicans apparently came back to the 2012 legislative session determined to work something anti-union into their busy schedule of voting to make gun permits optional and to dismantle consumer protections on heating oil. Thursday the state House passed a "right to work" bill applying to state workers by a 212-128 margin. That's a big margin, but since Democrats only hold 103 seats in the House, it actually represents bipartisan opposition to the bill.

New Hampshire AFL-CIO President Mark MacKenzie said in a statement:

While HB 383 only impacts state employees as currently written, it opens a back door for the Speaker and other Tea Party extremists to impose a right-to-work on all New Hampshire workers and businesses. Our legislators' continued opposition to the right-to-work law in any and all forms the Speaker that New Hampshire's people need jobs more than they need political attacks on workers.

Since the state Senate passed the comprehensive RTW bill and had the votes to override the governor's veto of that, it's extremely likely this bill will pass the Senate. Once again, it's likely to come down to a veto override attempt.