The South Dakota House of Representatives is passing a bill that removes collective bargaining for the state’s public university faculty.
House Bill 1199 passed thirty seven to twenty eight.
Of the roughly 3,500 union-eligible professors under the Board of Regents, around 120 pay dues.
Republican State Representative Mark Mickelson is the prime sponsor of the bill. He says that low membership number is reason enough to remove the ability to collective bargain.
“My sense is that organizations people have a strong affinity for, they join and invest their money in,” Mickelson says. “I think you see that in the K-12 system where they have a very strong teachers union and most of them are dues paying. And so, this is clearly an outlier.”
But critics say that low membership number is because South Dakota is a right to work state. They say non-paying members get a free ride for union benefits.
Last year, the legislature passed a similar bill removing collective bargaining abilities for the state’s tech school teachers.
The governor signed that bill and has indicated his support for House Bill 1199.
