A bill

to amend the South Carolina Code of Laws by enacting the "Freedom of Employment Contract Act" BY REPEALING CHAPTER 7 of TITLE 41 RELATING TO THE RIGHT TO WORK.

Whereas, the South Carolina General Assembly finds so-called "Right-to-Work" laws deprive employers and unions of their right to require all members of a workforce to share in the costs as well as the benefits of collective bargaining and representation; and

Whereas, the South Carolina General Assembly finds deprivation of this right tends to create workplace tensions between dues-paying workers and free-riders who receive union representation without cost; and

Whereas, the South Carolina General Assembly finds that so-called "Right-to-Work" laws are fundamentally unfair because unions are required to equally represent those who share in the costs of representation and those free-riders who do not, and also are unfair to dues-paying members whose dues provide financial support for services to free-riders; and

Whereas, the South Carolina General Assembly finds "Right-to-Work" laws are aimed at harming unions by depriving them of revenue and by creating the potential for discrimination against union members by employers attempting to rid themselves of unions; and

Whereas, the South Carolina General Assembly finds that things which are harmful to unions also are harmful to workers, which in this case means wages are set without the collective power of organized workers, leading to stagnation of wages and the lack of benefits such as health insurance and defined benefit pensions, and if this results in fewer union workplaces, it decreases the number of workers who are guaranteed freedom from arbitrary actions by their employer; and

Whereas, the South Carolina General Assembly finds that what harms unions harms the economy, depriving it of the percolating upward forcing of higher workers' wages and the accompanying rises in consumer confidence that can drive the economy upward. Now, therefore,

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1.   This act may be cited as the "Freedom of Employment Contract Act".

SECTION 2.   Chapter 7, Title 41 of the S.C. Code is repealed.

SECTION 3.   This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

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