Governor wants state to stop collecting union dues

The Albquerque Journal ^ | 3/19/2014 | James Monteleone

[SF Geo]

Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration wants to stop allowing union dues to be withdrawn automatically from state employee paychecks, money that she says is turned around for political attacks. One union leader called that a “declaration of war” against unions and said changing the longstanding practice is simply not going to happen.

[cripplecreek]

The trick is to do it before they get much of a chance to react.

In Michigan it came up on a Wednesday or Thursday and it was signed by the following Monday.

[Bidimus1]

Gee wizz... you mean Other organisations have to pay for their own Accounts Rec. ! Mon Du that is unbelievable

[Rusty0604]

Arnold tried this in CA but it was voted down. The unions all over the country will stop at nothing to keep Gov. Martinez from being successful. I hope she wins.

[Rodamala]

Hey, Moose! Rocco! Help the Judge find his checkbook, will ya?

[Fzob]

Great idea that will likely never happen. Not having an automatic deduction will remind the rank and file every week how much the dues cost and how little they get for union membership.

If nothing else the state should charge the union for processing the automatic payroll deductions.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

The reason the unions have to be killed off...

The unions run the governments; federal, state, and local.

[Cyber Liberty]

Similar story in WI. That’s odd, you take the gun away from their heads and they stop paying. Huh.

[abclily]

When the members have to personally pay their dues each month, they will be more apt to question what the money goes for. That is what the unions fear.

[Alberta's Child]

There's actually a good reason why the state is willing to act as the collection agent for the union: The state saves some money that way.

Here's a simplified version of how a negotiation session between an employer and a union usually goes:

UNION: "We want 10 paid holidays every year for every employee."

EMPLOYER: "OK -- sounds good."

UNION: "We also want the employer to collect the union dues from every employee's paycheck and send it to us."

EMPLOYER: "OK, but then you'll have to agree to take only 8 paid holidays for your members, not 10."

UNION: "OK -- sounds good!"

As you can see, many employers are willing to do this because the union dues are the single biggest priority for the unions -- which means they're willing to negotiate away a lot of other things that their members would rather have.

[boop]

Heh, yes. That's why I chose those names.

But on a serious note, I've always been curious about the "muscle" that unions use to intimidate people.

Yeah, I KNOW that the Mob often runs unions, but they can't be stupid enough to have an actual union member get caught doing the kneecapping.

That could lead to jail time for the union bosses.

And the bosses don't want dat.

[ExCTCitizen]

I think she’ll win the fight. It’s time to tell the union thugs to pound sand.

[outofsalt]

“I think she’ll win the fight.”

House and Senate are ‘rats...

[MV=PY]

"Unbeknownst to the union goombas, fistighting is a rather popular sport among the Amish. "

I like that!

[CedarDave]

In case you missed this story.

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[OneWingedShark]

That’d be great — another thing that would be awesome would be to make [income] tax witholding illegal in the state.

[OneWingedShark]

When the members have to personally pay their dues each month, they will be more apt to question what the money goes for. That is what the unions fear.

Same with [income] tax withholdings.

[Hoodat]

One union leader called that a “declaration of war” against unions

I'm OK with that.

[OneWingedShark]

Does Gov. Martinez have the equivalent of the ‘Executive Order’ in your state?

New Mexico State Constitution
Art V, Sec. 4. [Governor’s executive power; commander of militia.]

The supreme executive power of the state shall be vested in the governor, who shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed. He shall be commander in chief of the military forces of the state, except when they are called into the service of the United States. He shall have power to call out the militia to preserve the public peace, execute the laws, suppress insurrection and repel invasion.

[Duckdog]

Rock on, gov!

[leapfrog0202]

I hope the governor is willing to go the whole mile....because it WILL get ugly...

---

She’s a former DA of Dona Ana county which encompasses Las Cruces NM and dealt with lots of very ugly stuff brought across the border as Las Cruces is very close to the border. She carried her own gun for protection while DA and probably still does, although I don’t know, now that she’s Governor. I’d say she’s one that is in it for the whole mile.