Guest columnist

Gov. Bill Lee recently released propaganda about Amendment 1 that is full of falsehoods. The truth is we are being asked to vote on a constitutional amendment that limits the rights of working people. That limit, which already exists under Tennessee law and has since 1947, would enshrine this anti-union legislation in such a way that working people’s unions will be increasingly hard to organize and join.

Amendment 1 makes the ability of workers to organize and join a union much more difficult by allowing those in a workplace protected by unions to refuse to join but still enjoy all the contract benefits won by their co-workers. This proposed amendment to the Tennessee Constitution would allow your co-worker to freeload off your efforts to make your workplace a better-paying, more secure and safer place to make a living. Unionized workers make up only 5.2% of Tennessee’s workers, so why do we need a constitutional amendment? To answer this question, we should examine what Tennessee workers make, how unions can make a difference and who is behind this anti-union amendment.

How much money do Tennessee workers make? Less than many across the U.S. The median annual income of U.S. workers is $54,132; in Tennessee, that pay is $37,015 yearly. Already, we are way below the rest of the nation. We also know that wages and living wages are very different. The MIT living wage calculation for two-person households – one adult and one child – varies across the state,...

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