By AP/KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – For 55 years, the Missouri Supreme Court has excluded public employees from the constitutional right to collective bargaining.
But a case to be heard November Sixth by the court could challenge that interpretation.
The case is being brought by two former Jefferson City school employees and their union representative. They lost in circuit
court and at the Western District of the state Court of Appeals.
The constitution says, quote, "that employees shall have the right to organize and to bargain collectively through
representatives of their own choosing."
But in a 1947 case, the state Supreme Court ruled that the section does not apply to any public officers or employees. The court has upheld that decision on numerous occasions.