Cookeville – For 75 years Tennessee has been a “right to work” state. That status was cemented Tuesday night as voters overwhelmingly passed Amendment 1 of the TN constitution.
In short, the amendment will not allow businesses to not hire or fire an employee for refusing to join a labor union or employee organization. The amendment needed to receive more yes votes than no votes. In order for the amendment to pass, the total number of yes votes had to constitute at least a majority (50% +) of the vote total in the governors election.
The amendment needed 867,000 votes to pass, at least half of the 1.7 million votes cast on the gubernatorial election.
It did so.
“Tonight is a great night for Tennessee employees and employers, and for continued economic growth in our state,” the Yes on 1 committee said in a statement. “With the successful passage of Amendment 1, the voters have firmly secured Tennessee’s right-to-work law in our state constitution to guarantee all Tennessee workers the freedom to decide for themselves whether or not to join a union in their workplace.”
The statement continued.
“Amending the constitution is a long, multi-year process, and we are grateful to so many, but especially to Gov. Bill Lee and Bill Haslam, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and Speaker Cameron Sexton, and the thousands of other champions both in the General Assembly and beyond who supported and contributed to tonight’s victory across the state.”
