2. Citizens United rationale was it was a fair decision because unions were on equal footing financially with corporations. Not anymore.

but the Scabs might get tired of buying tires for their cars and decide that paying their fair share isn't such a bad thing after all.

let them bargain for themselves

Union recognition?

I think it depends where you are....in NYC unions are strong...for car factories not so much but let's see how those non-unionists feel when the economy dives next year

What he explained to me is they don't have a beef with workers not joining the union so long as they don't work for less money/benefits than the union members will. Essentially don't undercut the union and give employers a specific incentive not to hire union workers, and they're perfectly fine with that. They'd rather workers be unionized, but so long as independents maintain the standard, no problem. Charge more if you want, just don't work for less than the union says the work is worth.

That any worker that want to sue their employer, their lawsuit and representation should be financed by the company they work for.

We can sell this as a way to protect workers from bad employers.

When the nonunion people are cheaper who will get laid off first? Will school boards make "no union membership" a condition of employment for a new teacher?
I completely agree that if you refuse to join the union you should not get the legal representation the union provides. Unjust firing, discipline, other personnel issues? Too bad, you're on your own.

From the dissent:

In footnote 6 of the majority opinion, the Court suggests that Unions could be allowed to charge nonmembers for representing them in grievance proceedings.


Otherwise, this could put stewards in a very precarious situation..if they knew they were representing a non-dues paying member..I like to call freeloaders...CWA here!!!!!

And those laws require them to represent everyone if they are going to have exclusive representation status.

... but that would probably just accelerate their demise.

The law requires unions that have exclusive representation rights to bargain for all workers in the bargaining unit, whether they are members or not. Unions with exclusive representation rights cannot bargain for different compensation for members and non members they represent. Unions have the ability to negotiate a contract that applies specifically only to members, but they must give up exclusive representation rights. Doing so would then allow non union members and companies to individually negotiate slightly higher compensation for non union workers in an attempt to undercut the union.

who was a non-dues paying member...When CWA came knocking in the mid-eighties in our PhoneCenter stores..I was all for it - I couldn't express my pro Union stance being Mgmt..my employees - THEY wanted a Union..and they got it....

We always had IBEW at Western Electric...and the American Federation of Telco workers for telco operators in the mid sixties...of which I was a member....WHY the hell would someone want to be a freeloader....

but we do it to benefit the Health and Wealth of the whole group. For those who sit at the Bargaining Table,Cudo's been there and done that. Been Shot in the Back verbally many a time by those who bitch about everything and never contribute a Damn thing to the Cause .

Still a member - I hate scabs

In footnote 6 of the majority opinion, the Court suggests that Unions could be allowed to charge nonmembers for representing them in grievance proceedings.

Otherwise, this could put stewards in a very precarious situation..if they knew they were representing a non-dues paying member..I like to call freeloaders...

For several years, I thought "picket" lines were "pick it" lines since Daddy always stapled his signs to a pick handle. I later learned those were not just sign holders.

To those without union experience, picket lines are, at best, lonely; at worst, dangerous. Never pass one without honking support and flashing a thumbs up. If you have the time and resources, going back with bottled water or coffee and donuts will always be appreciated. Those are all of our brothers and sisters.

I've always supported unions, but never been in one. (Unfortunately there's no such thing as a "mom" union .) I'd love to find new ways to show my support.

I love your "pick it" story.

I'm not a union guy where I work in St Louis, but I support those workers and never cross picket lines when local businesses strike. And I had a wingnut co-worker in a previous job whose son-in-law use to complain about the union he was in - just trashed the union every time he could. I asked her why doesn't he then find another job if he was so morally against unions?

Her reply was priceless - "oh no, he could never make the money he's making now!"

and I love the response from the wingnut co-worker "oh no, he could never make the money he's making now!"

Many strikes..better wages..better healthcare..in fact - never paid a dime for healthcare..until I retired...and then only $54 month.....40 hour work week..vaca...Unions are only weakened by state laws, that are different state to state...I still have the benefit of having medicare Part B and D reimbursed..

allowing to charge nonmembers for representing them in grievance proceedings CAN be negotiated..this was written into this decision today....I will say, though, govt workers - are getting screwed..chose your profession wisely..

Freeloaders. non-dues paying Union members...

that history, and their connections w the mob, is, imho, a big part of what made people distrust their unions.

joined -- as a 16 year old at the A&P grocery store -- I was intimidated into joining by a big, burly butcher who called all us skinny new teenage hires together and said he was the union steward, threw a meat clever 40 feet across the room and it stuck in the wooden cooler door, as he turned to us and said, "You are planning to join the union, aren't you." Yes, sir, where do we sign.

The next time, I joined the government employee union. it was a little more pleasant and probably useful.

I am also surprised at the "hate" expressed here on this site for people who are often just trying to feed their families. If folks are going to be mad at "scabs," they've misplaced anger from those who hire them.

as of now. Retired UFCW 655

Last edited Wed Jun 27, 2018, 01:39 PM - Edit history (1)

...reading through this thread, it's clear this has already been debated and adjudicated, to the advantage of scabs who refuse to pay, but want all of the benefit.

I can see it's not enough to just want this and hope the politics (and the courts) favors it.

Management would never do that. They love undermining the unions.

The situation in NC isn’t exactly the same, however. Here in NC collective bargain has been illegal for any state or local government worker, period.


There are zero union contracts for any state or local jobs in NC. Not for copsX not for firefighters, not for teachers, not for anyoneZ

So what unions exist exist as “professional organizations” that are 100% voluntary to join. They can lobby the government employers on behalf of the members but have zero bargaining rights.

So for example for a cop, a cop can join the FOP if they want. The FOP will provide members benefits, advice and provide a lawyer if needed. But they don’t negotiate contracts or have any bargaining authority.

and all of there right wing shit, but when a group of people in a union support majority +1 rules these fucking scabs don't believe in majority +1 rule, they just believe like that narcissistic ego manic psychopath in the white house, its all about himself .......................they are fucking hypocrites, FUCK them and the horse they rode in on..................leave

People died so that you could represented at the work table assholes................. Abolish-Taft Hartley .....................now




November 2018 cannot get here fast enough....................vote

Scabs shouldn't get shit.

At schools that have teachers who pay no dues those particular teachers are Not given help or much support. One school I worked at quite frequently was to,s by other teacher this particular one was not due paying. She asked me to substitute once and I said I was already booked somewhere else. Wink wink. She had a hard time getting Substitutes and the ones she got were those who were terrible always oni their cell phones.

The Unions knew this was going to happen and I'm pretty sure they are prepared. Kinda reminds me of Jurassic Park original movie wherein when the scientists cloned the dinosaurs only male.

But, the dinosaurs found a way to multiply. Weird, but the Unions will survive and come back stronger than ever.

Plus, once the scabs realize that their pay is stagnant or reduced with no benefits and or they have to play more for benefits, than only then, will they understand the importance of Unions (well some of them).

Unfortunately, I think our economy is dying.

and I think you are wrong about unions. their membership is shrinking fast. my mother retired from teamsters central states and she only gets a pension of $500 but the members later voted to receive pensions of $4,000 and now the union is out of money and the retirement plan drops to 90% OFF in 2025. the young members will get nothing and the newer retirees will will drop from $4,000 to 400 and if my mother is still alive she will only get $50

Unions will survive. Smaller but will regroup.

Same shit happened early 20th century. Conservatives always overstep.

I have a pension for life thanks to the union.

not all teamsters locals are the same but this will effect hundreds of thousands of members

And I voluntarily still pay Union dues.

They helped us when we needed them. I return the favor.

The minute Hillary lost. This will change labor as we know it. Fuck everyone who made this possible.

WSNA.

Trump, Feinstein and the rest of them can rule the roost.

Agents killing them. Scabs, Gates locked out..longtime picket lines.

The new Justice is a scab thanks to Mitch Mcconnell. Never fear,he will get his sooner or later. They always do.

That thing he is married to was shouting at Protestors to, L” Leave my husband alone!” Not on your life,Elaine. They are just getting started!

My only point was to make it clear that solutions needed to evolve for a hostile time. I leave the tactics to the creativity and courage of the individual activists in various states and industries. Labor history is worth studying, IMHO.

The challenge is complicated by Citizen's United, globalization and the the fascist surveillance state. Clearly, there will be nothing coming from SCOTUS. Given how McConnell is packing lower courts with right-wing zealots reduces the efficacy of prior tactics. they'll be around for decades, alas.

Here's an article of modern Pinkerton. Yup, those guys.

https://newrepublic.com/article/147619/pinkertons-still-never-sleep

We had this problem in the USPS with scabs and union fees. There were a few scabs in our office and the union does have to represent them even w/o them paying their dues. So, they got representation, but it was really just crap representation. The steward did represent them, but was weak. Finally employees got the idea that although they didn't have to join, they wouldn't get good representation and when one guy lost his job due to less than stellar representation, but representation just the same, the scabs came back to the union.
As a manager I love unions and working with them. Unions protect workers and managers. We have a contract to work under and it helps us manage. We also involve stewards in difficult situations and getting employees help when needed. Vote Blue to save our country from trump. He's just god awful and with Ryan now working on destroying SS, Medicare and Medicaid, ask yourself why you or your friends don't vote.

you have an open shop where there are union and nonunion workers doing the same job, right?

Because of my job position, I was not permitted to join the union (I was classified as a "professional&quot , but union collective bargaining agreement s still applied to me. Never understood it.

My father was a machinist. I've always understood the need for unions, and people who trash unions are ignorant, pure and simple.

36 Reasons Why You Should Thank a Union (copied from elsewhere on the internet)

Weekends
All Breaks at Work, including your Lunch Breaks
Paid Vacation
FMLA
Sick Leave
Social Security
Minimum Wage
Civil Rights Act/Title VII (Prohibits Employer Discrimination)
8-Hour Work Day
Overtime Pay
Child Labor Laws
Occupational Safety & Health Act (OSHA)
40 Hour Work Week
Worker's Compensation (Worker's Comp)
Unemployment Insurance
Pensions
Workplace Safety Standards and Regulations
Employer Health Care Insurance
Collective Bargaining Rights for Employees
Wrongful Termination Laws
Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
Whistleblower Protection Laws
Employee Polygraph Protect Act (Prohibits Employer from using a lie detector test on an employee)
Veteran's Employment and Training Services (VETS)
Compensation increases and Evaluations (Raises)
Sexual Harassment Laws
Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA)
Holiday Pay
Employer Dental, Life, and Vision Insurance
Privacy Rights
Pregnancy and Parental Leave
Military Leave
The Right to Strike
Public Education for Children
Equal Pay Acts of 1963 & 2011 (Requires employers pay men and women equally for the same amount of work)
Laws Ending Sweatshops in the United States

As a former Union Steward for a public union, I completely agree. Part of having everyone being a dues paying member is strength in number when dealing with management. If you are too cheap to pay your share, when it comes to contract negotiations for salaries, vacation time, sick time, any benefits you DO NOT GET THEM. You can negotiate on your own. If you get in trouble with a supervisor or want to file a grievance on management, you're on your own, YOU GET NO HELP FROM THE UNION. There is no place for freeloaders in ANY union.

That's a remnant of the now-vanished understanding of the political physics involved in empowering the powerless.

Only together do we have the mass and momentum to overcome the money of the powerful.

Alas, the power bought dearly at the price of submerging individual priorities in a larger agenda that may or may not "check all the boxes" for each person gave the impression of being the new permanent status quo.

It is NEVER that.

We must ALWAYS craft a collective agenda that may not meet everyone's needs but meets enough of them to pull together a counterbalancing mass that can overcome the inherent power of a capitalist oligarchy.

That does not mean the collective agenda has to remain the same... and that has been our mistake, over and over. The agenda based on labor ignored the growing momentum of race-based civil rights.

The agenda of race-based civil rights ignored the growing momentum of universal class/poverty economic issues.

And there we stuck.

Whether we will ever get the chance to craft a collective agenda based on destroying the power of misogyny in our culture, I don't know. I'd hate to think I have to leave it to my grandson, but I know he will take up that cause if needed.

wearily,
Bright

When I was involved in a union, a scab was a strike breaker and those who didn't join the union were freeloaders.

...I'm defining right-wing hypocrites who want all the benefit from unions without contributing to them, or supporting them as scabs.

I'm in no goddamn mood for semantics.

Past president & business manager, IBEW, local 2088..............

He helped get Kennedy Space Center built. GO UNION!!!!!!!!!!

I don't get it... Just how much of union dues does Donnie think gets rolled over into political slush funds??

companies would just simply give non union members better wages and benefits to undermine the union and once the union is dissolved they will take back the pay raises and increased benefits.

...as part of the union's authority given to negotiate and contract for them. (something like that. See thread)

But I disagree there's some clear path from denying benefits, to employers automatically undermining the union with higher wages for deadbeats.

I realize that everything looks immutable with the present political landscape.

If the union is to retain the authority as the sole bargaining agent, they have to represent all workers in that bargaining unit equally as well. At least in theory, or enough to not obviously be doing a worse job for the freeloaders.

If they don’t do that, they stand to lose their power to act as the sole bargaining agent.

The moment the door is opened for a union to not be a sole bargaining agent with exclupowerr to negotiate for all workers in bargaining unit, they can hang it up and go home. Because then all management has to do is offer more money, better perks, or better treatment to the non-members. And then it’s done.

This may not be a huge factor in some places with some workers, as most of them will want to stay union. But it could be bad in some places too, I could see a huge drop being possible. And loss of even 20-30% of income for a union could have severe repercussions.

Contracts are collectively bargained. The only option is for loyal Union members to make their lives miserable and force them to quit.

like him now? And, Feckless Fraud rubbing their noses in it?