John Murphy, a telecommunications worker with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, is tired of having to show up to protests every year to oppose right-to-work legislation in New Hampshire.

“Every year we come out, and it’s the same,” he said. “It’s the same legislation you backtrack into. It’s some out-of-state national right-to-work (organization) that keeps trying to introduce it into New Hampshire, and it’s voted down, Republican side, Democratic side. It’s bipartisan.”

Still, Murphy comes out every time because he believes right-to-work is bad policy for New Hampshire and he believes in unions. That’s what he was doing on Wednesday when he gathered alongside more than 100 others outside the Legislative Office Building near the State House to protest House Bill 238, the latest bill seeking to bring right-to-work policies to New Hampshire.

Murphy said the bill seems like “a waste of our legislators’ time” given how many times it’s failed before.

Right-to-work – which refers to policies that prohibit collective bargaining agreements from requiring employees to join or contribute to a union – has been a perennial debate among New Hampshire lawmakers, but for decades has continually failed to become law. Most recently, House Bill 1377 and Senate Bill 516 in 2024 sought to institute right-to-work policies in New Hampshire, but neither the House nor Senate approved the legislation.

However, after November’s election saw Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte win the...

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