March 13, 2024
Bipartisan polling firm RABA Research conducted an online survey of 403 Oklahomans March 8 – 13, 2024. The survey looked at respondents’ opinions of organized labor unions and variety of workplace issues being considered by Oklahoma’s legislature.
Of particular note, 92% of respondents believe “Oklahoma’s workers should have the freedom to join a union”. 89% of respondents “believe Oklahoma’s workers should be able to contribute a portion of their own wages to their employee association or union through a payroll deduction if they choose to?” and 85% “believe Oklahoma’s teachers should be able to voluntarily pay employee association or union dues through payroll deduction”.
By a wide majority, 69% – 31%, respondents said they do not “believe the government should require Oklahoma’s workers to go through a complicated process of completing and submitting a form every year to have their union dues deducted from their paychecks even if all workers are completely satisfied with their representation”. And 70% answered “no” when asked if they “believe it should be illegal for teachers to meet and discuss issues related to their professional association at the workplace”.
When asked to “choose which of the following two statements best reflects your personal belief”,
- 76% of respondents chose – “Restricting the freedom to join a union is an unnecessary government overreach into workers’ ability to negotiate with their employers as they see fit, and no one should tell them what they can or can’t deduct from the paycheck that they earned.”
- 24% of respondents chose – “Our leaders in Oklahoma City have a responsibility to restrict collective bargaining and the automatic payment of union dues because labor unions in our state are too powerful”.
And by a 5-1 margin, respondents said they would be LESS LIKELY support your legislator if you knew they relied on national groups outside of Oklahoma to craft bills they introduced as solutions to our state’s problems.