Corporate lobbyists want to pass so-called “right to work” laws nationwide to weaken unions and crush organized labor. In Missouri, Republican lawmakers recently held a strategy session with a number of right-wing special interest groups where they laid out their plan to pass such an anti-union law.

At one point, Ai??Steve Hunter, a former Missouri lawmaker who took up work as a lobbyist after leaving public service, told the Republicans that they would lose donors if they don’t take up a radical anti-union bill:Ai??ai???If you donai??i??t take on the fights, and these guys that are giving money? I mean, this is just all basic 101. Youai??i??re going to start losing donors.ai???

Another speaker promises that if lawmakers push for this bill, “we want to make sure your backs are covered when it comes time for re-election. And thatai??i??s where we come in. To have the groundwork laid for you. So your backs can be covered.”

Progress Missouri captured these remarks and others in an audio recording of the entire meeting. Listen to it:

“Our legislators need to be listening to Missourians and solving Missouri problems, not following the orders of extreme billionaires and their secretive front groups,” said Progress Missouri Executive Director Sean Soendker Nicholson. “These bills are all about limiting the political voices of workers and the middle class on behalf of CEOs and corporations.ai???

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