As if an Indiana winter isn’t excitement enough, we Hoosiers are facing a contentious issue this month: right-to-work legislation.
If you don’t know what that means, I can’t really blame you for a lack of interest. It wouldn’t trip my radar either, had I not had dealings with a union during my teaching days. Back then, (22 years ago now – my word!), another young, newish teacher came to me and warned me that a union rep would soon be visiting me to solicit my membership in the teacher’s union. She told me that I might want to look into what the union stood for.
I did, and I’m so glad. When the older union rep teacher visited and told me that union membership was “the professional thing to do,” I was armed with what union membership really meant. It meant allying myself with a group that supported Planned Parenthood and almost every other nutty sideshow out there (American Eskimo Day, anyone?). I came to learn that, unofficially, it also meant demanding that my rights were guaranteed, even if that meant backing out of volunteering when a contract wasn’t met, etc. Sure, I was young and idealistic at the time, but I’d become a teacher because of my compassion for kids — not to line a bunch of union administrators’ (and liberal politicians’) wallets.
In subsequent years, some union reps tried to convince me to join by telling me I could opt out of the political portion of the dues. But they weren’t fooling me. The union was giving X amount of money to, say, Planned Parenthood. If they gave fewer of my dollars to them, they’d just compensate by giving more of someone else’s. Either way, I felt, I would bear the guilt of associating myself with them.
Saying no to union membership was one of the first times I’d had to say no to an authority figure and explain my reasoning. It was just another step in growing up, and I feel the experience made me stronger in many ways.
So, back to Indiana. Our governor wants to pass right-to-work legislation, which basically says that unions can’t require non-members to pay union dues. The governor contends that, should this bill pass, Indiana will be more attractive to businesses looking to locate here. I’m all for it. Why should unions fear, if they feel their services are really useful to employees? If I supported the teachers’ union and their agenda, I would have gladly paid dues to them. The fuss over right-to-work leads me to believe that unions just want members’ dues automatically, without being accountable to them. Do you know how much many union workers earn per hour? I remember when I first learned that GM workers at a plant near my school could earn $60,000 a year with no college degree, just tightening lug nuts all day. It’s insane and unsustainable — and union members/leaders know this. That’s why they’re fighting this legislation so hard.
I see an irony in liberal union members’ arguments in opposing Right to Work. They complain that, if some employees don’t have to pay union dues, those employees still get union benefits and are therefore “free loaders.” Hey, wait a minute: aren’t liberals the ones advocating free rides out there on every other issue (welfare, childcare, you name it)? Why get upset about those “freeloading” on union benefits, but praise those “freeloading” on healthcare?
Indianapolis will host the Super Bowl February 5, and some of the unions’ brightest bulbs are considering publicizing their plight by clogging city streets with trucks or by staging work showdowns. I’m not sure just how they think this will help their cause with the general public. If I traveled to another city for a big event and a bunch of yahoos messed up my trip in order to promote their own selfish agenda, you better believe I would not be feeling all warm ‘n fuzzy towards them or their cause.
Our newspaper states that local union members are unsure whether or not they’ll participate in such a protest. They’re “awaiting guidance from the Indiana AFL-CIO before deciding what to do.” To me, there’s much of the problem with unions in a nutshell. Do you await guidance from your union boss before deciding what to do? Who to vote for? Nope, me either.
But Jeff Combs, Teamster organizer, doesn’t care: “You can tell them we’ll take the Super Bowl and shove it,” he said. Real mature, Jeff. Your eloquence speaks so well of your organization.
Indiana legislators: Shove right-to-work legislation through. Shove it, please.
Very well stated!
How I wish they’d pass this legislation in Michigan, but that will happen when pigs fly with the big three automakers being headquartered here!
Very good article. The union “helped” my son right out of a job (in Indiana). They decided his job didn’t pay enough or have enough benefits, so they got it eliminated, assuming it would be refashioned in to a higher paying job and that the company would then rehire him… yeah, right. I am not a fan of unions for the most part. Esp. the teacher’s union, as you say they support way too many questionable things.
I grew up in a union household. Dad was a member of the International Typogrphaical Union. They were a “good” union. They never went on strike, though they honored the strikes of the 5 other unions at the newspaper where Dad worked. He used to say how he had five pensions coming when he retired: social security, the company pension, the company supplemental pension (which he paid into from each paycheck), the union pension, and the union supplemental pension (which he paid into from each paycheck). He was forced into early retirement after at age 60 after 30 years of paying union dues, since he couldn’t hack the new technology in typesetting. When he turned 62, his pensions kicked in. Except the ITU was broke. He never received anything from his union, despite paying union dues AND paying extra to get a better pension.
I hope Indiana is successful at ridding themselves of coercive union membership.