Exodus: Wisconsin Government Workers Abandon Unions in Droves

Townhall.com ^ | June 22, 2012 | Guy Benson

[Kaslin]

First, a mea culpa: I'm several weeks late to this story, but it's so significant that I figured I'd adopt a "better late than never" approach and bring this to your attention anyway:
 

Wisconsin membership in the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees - the state's second-largest public-sector union after the National Education Association, which represents teachers - fell to 28,745 in February from 62,818 in March 2011, according to a person who has viewed Afscme's figures. A spokesman for Afscme declined to comment. Much of that decline came from Afscme Council 24, which represents Wisconsin state workers, whose membership plunged by two-thirds to 7,100 from 22,300 last year.

A provision of the Walker law that eliminated automatic dues collection hurt union membership. When a public-sector contract expires the state now stops collecting dues from the affected workers' paychecks unless they say they want the dues taken out, said Peter Davis, general counsel of the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission. In many cases, Afscme dropped members from its rolls after it failed to get them to affirm they want dues collected, said a labor official familiar with Afscme's figures. In a smaller number of cases, membership losses were due to worker layoffs.

Wow.  Jim Geraghty's extemporaneous headline nailed the lesson here: "Here’s What Happens When Government Stops Collecting Dues for Unions."  This is exactly right.  For all of the noise organized labor made about paying more toward their healthcare and pensions, and the Hitleresque erosion of their sacred collective bargaining "rights," this is what really kept union bosses up at night.  If Scott Walker could make paying dues non-compulsory, they worried, manyrank-and-file members may realize they just aren't too interested in automatically donating to Democrats cycle after cycle after all.  Many of them might therefore opt out of the racket in order to spend their money as they see fit, thus derailing the gravy train.  As we now see, those fears have been realized on a grand scale; Wisconsin's public sector union rolls have been decimated in just over a year.  Given a free choice, government workers have clamored to drop mandatory dues like a bad habit.  Remember, this is why the Maddow crowd was so apoplectic over the spectacularly failed Wisconsin recall-o-rama:

June 23, 2012

Maddow: Without unions, ‘Democrats do not have a way to compete’ [VIDEO]

So [government sector unions] they go away — in terms of whether or not that corporate money that’s disproportionately supporting Republicans can be answered — at least on the Democratic side, before there is some kind of reform, Democrats do not have a way to compete in terms of big outside money in elections. And that is the reality now in Wisconsin. It is the reality in states where they have essentially eliminated unions rights...I think, structurally, that’s a pretty dire electoral situation for Democrats.”

Indeed, Ms. Maddow.
 

[rightly_dividing]

It’s good to see things getting better in Wi.

[Ann Archy]

Could union menbers ACTUALLY be waking up???

[bill1952]

>And that is the reality now in Wisconsin. It is the reality in states where they have essentially eliminated unions rights...

Um, eliminating compulsory dues from non consenting workers is not eliminating Union rights - it is called freedom from tyranny & theft.

And THAT is the reality.

[Joe Boucher]

“- fell to 28,745 in February from 62,818 in March 2011”!!!
Ouch, that’s gotta hurt.
Where is the dembo party going to go to shake down contributions now?

[muawiyah]

What makes you think union members weren't already awake?

Compulsory dues collection is always a problem ~ and it's one imposed by the state government's very own jack booted thugs.

Take away the fascist legion and people won't pay.

[tflabo]

Unions are Pro-Choice, theirs.
Now that workers have a choice in paying Unions dues or not the Unionistas at the top no likey the freedom to choose. Dictators never do.

[mazda77]

and just this week the SCOTUS laid a big hammer on the practice nationwide. Looks like Trumpka and the rest of the goons are going to have to go back to the old way, at the point of a gun or the very least knee capping.

[Right Wing Assault]

Public unions lose their right to steal!

[Lionheartusa1]

WOW!!!!!!!!

That’s aproximately 46% of their total membership and will certainly hurt their political fund raising ability .

“For the first time in my adult life I am proud of some union members” . ,,,, no that wasn’t Moochelle sayin’ that .

[tflabo]

And all those Occupy morons and rabble rousers who trashed the Capitol rotunda in Madison were unwitting pawns doing the bidding for the Union overlords. They got played and discarded when no longer useful. Suckers.

[Lionheartusa1]

,,,,,,, dont’ send the spelling police after me ,,, I know there are two Ps in the word APPROXIMATELY ,, I just didn't strike the keyboard hard enough to add it I suppose .

[Tahoe3002]

I believe many of the rank and file union members are more like indentured servants to the union than free members of the work force. The other union members are just thugs. IMHO.

[umgud]

there are two Ps in the word APROXAMATLY

[ChildOfThe60s]

Har Har Har.

Send this info to all the libs you know and watch the heads explode. What could be more fun?

[commonguymd]

And the 7-2 court decision on just haphazardly increasing fees to support political candidates with no notification or opt out was shot down to boot. How 2 justices think it is okay to raise dues to pilfer money for politics is beyond me on all levels of right and wrong.

[exDemMom]

dont’ send the spelling police after me

Well, they *will* have to issue a stern warning. You don't have to pay a fine... this time.

[burroak]

You incorrectly spelled Lionheartusa1’s incorrect spelling.

Knock of the grammar nazi stuf.

[exDemMom]

I do recall the push to unionize graduate students back at UC Davis. Students in soft majors (English, sociology, etc.) led the push, while students in hard majors (experimental sciences) weren’t at all involved in the effort.

Those pushing for unionization wanted mandatory union dues extracted from every graduate student, on the pretext that “the union benefits everyone, whether they belong or not.” They also wanted to eliminate everything that might be a source of competition, as well...pay based on performance, for example.

I refused to sign any of the union membership drive petitions, or even to talk to the union organizers.

[muawiyah]

when it comes to getting school teaches to pay up it usually only takes one ~ they’re smart and know what’s coming to them if they don’t!