Sins of the Flesh: From the union's perspective, the right to work argument is similar to the concept of who should be paying taxes and whether certain income earners should have a choice whether to voluntarily pay taxes, or not.
When one pays taxes, it is not a matter of choice. In return for your tax dollars at work the various forms of government have a basic obligation to provide its citizens with basic infrastructure and security needs.
Rightly or wrongly, unions feel that the same rationale should apply in the workplaces they represent. If employees are going to benefit from the increased security provided by the various labor agreements bargained with the employers, all bargaining unit employees should pay equally for the privilege.
From the union's perspective, paying union dues, just as paying taxes, should not be a matter of choice. At least that is the way I understand the argument!
Originally Posted by bigtex
Excellent! Thank you so much for an objective and informed response.
I don't think the Unions are completely off base with this argument. Just in case there is any confusion, it is fair to say that unions are responsible for creating the middle class to begin with. Good on them. Workers today do enjoy a higher standard of living, safer working conditions, an end to child labor practices, and other benefits that can be directly attributed to not just the hard work, but also the blood and sweat of union organizers.
However, the argument that non-union workers benefit from the efforts of unions no longer holds as much water as it once did. For one, statistics show that non-union workers tend to earn slightly lower wages. Also benefits for non-union workers tend to be slightly less than union workers. So workers who choose not to join a union do in fact give up some benefits and better pay for their choice. So its not as easy to make the case that non-union workers are riding the coat tails of the hard work of modern day unions.
Furthermore, and here is the point that alot of unions don't get. Workers object to their union dues being funneled into the political process. In this last election alone, millions of dollars in union dues were spent on campaigning and electioneering. That is NOT what union dues were intended to do. Once unions crossed the line into becoming highly visible political operatives, they kind of lose any right to demand that all workers join them and contribute to political causes that the worker does not support.
Thanks for a great response. I love a good debate, as long as we can keep the discussion on the topic at hand without taking the childish way out and getting personal