Posts tagged opt in
Here’s why the US labor movement is so popular but union membership is dwindling.
September 6, 2023 // Labor laws in the US make it more difficult for employees to form unions: Around 27 states have passed "Right to Work" laws, making it more difficult for workers to unionize. These laws provide union representation to nonunion members in union workplaces– without requiring the payment of union dues. It also gives workers the option to join a union or opt out. Workplace sectors that were traditionally union strongholds, now make up less of the workforce, such as manufacturing, transportation, and construction.
Southern States Moving Bills to Reinforce Janus Ruling
March 23, 2023 // Moreover, while the Florida, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Oklahoma proposals all include provisions not specifically mentioned in the Janus ruling as written by Justice Samuel Alito and affirmed by four of his colleagues, each is entirely consistent with its unambiguous intent. The ruling clearly states, “Neither an agency fee nor any other payment to the union may be deducted from a nonmember’s wages, nor may any other attempt be made to collect such a payment, unless the employee affirmatively consents to pay.”
DeSantis stands up for teachers
February 10, 2023 // The governor’s proposal, dubbed a Teacher’s Bill of Rights, draws clear boundary lines between the interests of teachers and the interests of teachers unions. The proposal restores the rights of taxpayers and teachers, who don’t always support union politics. For example, DeSantis’s proposal would end the practice of union dues being deducted directly from teachers’ paychecks — a process undertaken at taxpayers’ expense. And the governor’s proposal would prohibit union officials from doing union work while on the clock for their taxpayer-funded job. Known as “release time,” the paid workday hours that public employees spend doing union work can add up. In Miami-Dade County alone, public employees spent 132,433 on-the-clock hours doing union work between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2019, according to a James Madison Institute report. Those hours cost taxpayers more than $4 million. The governor has also taken aim at so-called “zombie unions,” which lack adequate documented support from the teachers they claim to represent.
Opinion: Paying unions: Recurring opt-in requirements protect public workers
August 31, 2022 // Much of the political spending is used to encourage and support ideologically aligned politicians in opposing badly needed reforms to public education such as addressing tenure policies, offering performance-based merit pay and alternatives to traditional public education like charter schools and tax-credit programs. A big chunk of those “dues and agency fees” also are used to advance controversial curriculum like critical race theory, divisive bathroom practices and abortion policies that go against the wishes of parents and communities.
How a Liberal State Defies the First Amendment
July 12, 2022 // Frank Ricci — a retired firefighter and former president of the New Haven Firefighters Local 825, and now the Yankee Institute’s Fellow of Labor & Special Initiatives — says that opt-out windows “equate to a dues grab where the union picks the pockets of their workers who are trying to leave.” Besides the money, it’s about power: The “small print of membership cards,” Ricci says, “are designed to trap the worker into membership.” The tactics result in “defying the Janus decision and increasing the union’s political power.” Michael Costanza, Constitution State Educators, Christina Corvello,
Viewpoint: Let Oklahoma teachers control their own paychecks
April 28, 2022 // Our state can begin by solidifying some basic facts. Oklahoma teachers have First Amendment rights. They get to choose whether to join, or remain a member of, a union. And they decide for themselves whether part of their hard-earned paycheck goes to support a union.
‘It’s About Defending My Rights’: Musician Who Refused Union Membership Sues Gov’t-Funded Orchestra
April 21, 2022 // The American Federation of Musicians, which represents the orchestra's local union, has spent more than $259,000 on federal candidates since 2016—roughly 98 percent of which went to Democrats.
WITH THE RULES OF THE GAME CHANGED, UNIONS ARE DETERMINED TO CHEAT
April 18, 2022 //
To Help Workers, Unions and Democrats Should Support Scott’s ERA
April 13, 2022 // The ERA’s policies are wildly popular. Recent polling shows that 70% of those polled – including 76% of individuals in union households – believe that workers should have the right to a secret ballot. Other major provisions – including the right to withhold dues from political spending, privacy protections, and the criminalization of union threats – poll at an average favorability of 70%.
Indiana Leaders Safeguard Free Speech for Teachers
April 7, 2022 // In legible, 14-point bold text will be these words: The State of Indiana wishes to make you aware that you have a First Amendment right…to refrain from joining and paying dues to a union.