Majority of Oklahomans favor right-to-work legislation

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ A new poll shows a majority of Oklahomans favor a right-to-work law, which would bar labor unions from forcing employees to join the union or pay dues. <br><br>An Oklahoma Poll taken

Sunday, April 8th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) _ A new poll shows a majority of Oklahomans favor a right-to-work law, which would bar labor unions from forcing employees to join the union or pay dues.

An Oklahoma Poll taken in late March and early April found that 58 percent of Oklahomans favor the legislation. Thirty-two percent of those polled opposed the idea; 10 percent offered no opinion.

The Oklahoma Poll of 750 registered voters statewide was taken by Tulsa-based Consumer Logic with a margin of error rate of plus or minus 3.5 percent. The poll was sponsored by the Tulsa World.

A proposal to put a right-to-work proposal before state voters has passed the Oklahoma Senate and is pending before the House.

All areas of the state were in favor of a right-to-work law, although the largest support came from Oklahoma City where 62 percent of those surveyed favor such legislation.

That compared with 57 percent in Tulsa and 54 percent in the rest of the state, said the poll consultant, Al Soltow of the University of Tulsa.

Soltow said a breakdown of the survey shows that 71 percent of Republicans supported right to work compared with 50 percent of the Democrats.

There was uniform support for the law in all age brackets, Soltow said.