In Iowa, the fight was over whether workers would get the union-representation votes state law promised them. In Oklahoma, it was whether a secret-ballot proposal would ever reach the House floor. In Utah, it led a lawmaker to help repeal a bill he had fought to pass.
AFFT CEO Chip Rogers sat down with five state lawmakers and a labor-policy advocate at the 2026 American Legislative Exchange Council conference in Orlando to hear how those battles unfolded.
The conversations get inside the decisions that shape who has a voice at work and extend to another deeply personal question. Who gets to choose the right learning environment for a child?
Adrian Dickey on a vote workers were supposed to have
Union representation should come with accountability. Iowa Sen. Adrian Dickey wanted to make sure public employees could actually exercise it.
Dickey described a breakdown in Iowa’s recertification process. When public employers did not provide the employee lists needed for an election, workers lost their opportunity to weigh in on continued union representation.
Senate File 472, signed into law in May 2026, gives Iowa residents a way to seek an expedited court order requiring employers to provide those lists. It strengthens enforcement of a voting process already required by law.
Dickey compared that accountability to the test elected officials regularly face at the ballot box.
“They should prove their worth whenever that contract comes up,” he said of union representatives.
Jordan Teuscher on why he helped repeal his own bill
Utah Rep. Jordan Teuscher’s interview turns on an unusual decision. He backed the repeal of his own legislation.
He said HB 267 began with public employees who were not union members telling him they felt shut out of decisions affecting their workplaces. The measure sought to prohibit public-sector collective bargaining and change other union practices.
After a referendum campaign against the law, Teuscher concluded that the debate was damaging the conversation with the workers he wanted to reach. He helped pursue repeal, and the law was repealed in December 2025.
Teuscher said “the best approach would be to reset the conversation” and continue working toward a solution.
His interview offers a candid look at what happens when a legislative victory becomes a political battle, and why he chose to start again.
Julie Daniels on taxpayer dollars and a private vote
If a business accepts taxpayer incentives, what should it owe the people who work there?
Oklahoma Senate Majority Floor Leader Julie Daniels makes the case for protecting employees’ opportunity to cast a private vote on union representation.
Daniels coauthored SB 1937, which would condition economic development incentives on certain labor practices. Among them, using an NLRB secret-ballot election instead of recognizing a union solely through signed authorization cards when such an election is available.
The proposal passed the Senate 35–8 but stalled in the House.
Daniels told Rogers she was prepared to keep working on the issue: “So we’ll be back trying that again next year.”
Mark Lepak on the bills that never reach a floor vote
A strong vote in one chamber does not guarantee a vote in the next. Oklahoma Rep. Mark Lepak explains why.
As SB 1937’s principal House author, Lepak watched the proposal clear the House Business Committee and stall before reaching the floor.
His interview focuses on the power to keep legislation from advancing and how that can spare lawmakers from taking a public position.
“But if you don’t have to vote on it, it’s easy to not run it, you know what I’m saying?” he said.
Lepak also discusses his years of trying to advance teacher-union recertification proposals. The frustration is familiar. An idea can have supporters and still struggle to get a hearing.
Patricia Rucker on the child who needed another option
For West Virginia Sen. Patricia Rucker, the case for educational freedom includes a child who needed time to grieve.
Rucker recalled a mother whose husband had died, leaving her to return to work while her youngest daughter struggled emotionally at school. Before the Hope Scholarship became law, Rucker connected the family with a nearby homeschooling family. After a year, she said, the daughter returned to public school.
“The public school didn’t do anything wrong,” Rucker said.
The family needed another option. That experience helps explain her support for giving parents more flexibility through the Hope Scholarship and other education options.
“The whole point of empowering the families and the parents is that you want that child to be safe,” she said. “You want that child to learn.”
Her conversation with Rogers brings the debate back to an individual child’s needs and to the fact that those needs can change.
David Guenthner on making worker freedom work
David Guenthner, executive director of Workers for Opportunity, the Mackinac Center’s labor-policy initiative, brings the state stories together.
His starting point is what happens after a major court ruling.
“They’re not self-enforcing,” he said of U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
Guenthner describes working with lawmakers and government agencies to help workers understand their rights and make choices about union membership. He points to Iowa’s recertification reforms as an example of the practical work needed after a policy is adopted.
His interview makes the case for sustained follow-through. Workers need information, workable procedures and a way to address barriers when they arise.
A voice worth protecting
AFFT recognized Dickey and Teuscher with its inaugural Worker Freedom Awards at the conference. These interviews expand that story, showing the work behind a law, the proposals that remain unfinished and the personal experiences that keep people pushing.
AFFT works to ensure public employees have the information and freedom to make their own decisions about union membership. Protecting that choice requires attention long after a bill is introduced or a headline fades.
Explore all six interviews, share the conversation that speaks to you, and visit AFFT’s Union Accountability Center for more reporting on worker freedom.
Questions about your own workplace options? AFFT can help you understand your rights.