If you wanted to get a job at, say, an auto factory, would you be required to join the UAW (or similar union)?
Depends on the state, shop and gig.
I worked in an auto plant for a temp gig in grad school. No union.
Lady Chance worked as a tour guide two summers in college on those Tourmobiles in DC and had to join the teamsters because of it.
Federal law protects your right not to have to join a union. You may still have to pay “agency fees” which is a very, very, very slightly reduced payment in lieu of dues, depending on whether your state is a right-to-work state or not. Check out National Right to Work Defense Council for many articles about your rights during coerced unionism, and National Right to Work about what may or may not be called the evils of involuntary, forced unionism.
Two parts of our company, a property maintance side and a construction side. Maintance side has no unions, wheres the construction side does. Construction didn’t require you to join, but some of members would haze you if you didn’t. Hiding your tools, talking shit, etc…
In a previous job that I had at a life insurance company you didn’t have to join the union, but the default position was that all new employees automatically became members. You had to opt out if you didn’t want to be a member. It was not a big issue to opt out and it didn’t affect you in any way.
I’m posting so I can subscribe to this thread; it’s something I’ve wondered about myself.
A few years ago I worked in a laboratory that all employees had to join the union, or opt out. I opted out, but was required to donate the same amount of money as the dues would have been to a charity of my designation (from a list, I couldn’t donate to the Smashed Ice Cream college loan repayment fund).
However, when I lost my job, the union fought for my job back the same as if I was a member. I never followed up with how that happened, especially since I was the only non-union member in the lab. I wasn’t the only layoff, though. I was, however, the only one who didn’t get rehired, but I got a better severance package than I was originally given because of the union’s involvement in settling the layoffs.
I didn’t have to join the Teacher’s Union, but an amount the same as the dues minus $1 would be deducted from my pay. I decided to be a member.
How are they legally able to take “dues” from your paycheck?
It’s specfically permitted by statute:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode29/usc_sec_29_00000158----000-.html
Some constitutional limitations and requirements apply
The rationale is that the non-union employees get the benefit of the union’s efforts; letting them accept the benefit without paying gives them a “free ride.”
When I was on the negotiating committee for my union, we had a related issue. The negotiations were pretty hairy. The employees were facing layoffs and wage concessions. Suddenly those anti-union folks wanted to attend the strategy meetings. We had to decide whether to let them. See, http://www.flra.gov/decisions/v55/55_103ab.html for a discussion of the applicable rules.
We have three unions: Teamsters, Operators and IBEW. The CBA between management and the unions requires membership. I don’t believe there are any options.
AK is not a Right to Work or “free collective bargaining” state. National Right to Work Foundation Right to Work States - National Right to Work Foundation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_work
I have a problem with forced agency fees, which is partly the reason I have not rejoined the teacher’s union at my school (I left the school for a year and came back, but did not rejoin the union).
My take: union dues are about $750 per year, and agency fees are about $700 per year. Agency fee payers are only required to pay for the costs associated with bargaining and grievance support (and a few other things, but not political activities). The union is required to have an independent auditor account for the costs.
In my school system, we have about 800 faculty and staff members. At $700 per year, that works out to $560,000 per year for “bargaining and grievance support.” I think that is complete B.S., and if it costs that much to support those things, the union is doing something severely wrong. Much of the dues and agency fees goes to the state and federal unions, and the general consensus (although not by the unions themselves, of course) is that there is a lot of overcharging that gets missed by the auditors.
The other issue I have is that, quite frankly, in the open market I am worth more as a physics teacher than my English teacher / Social Studies teacher colleagues. I have no independent bargaining rights to say, “hey, you want to keep me? Pay me more. I know you’ll have a hard time replacing me.” That said, I certainly don’t work any harder than my colleagues, so getting paid the same as them is not as big an issue to me. I think we should ALL get paid much more.
I would be happy to be in the union if it was strictly a local effort. Ditch the state and federal union entities (which are corrupt on many levels). Until then, I won’t be a member if I don’t have to.
-Tofer