Posted on 02/21/2006 3:38:19 PM PST by george76
Early reports show the AFL-CIO spent $49 million (27 percent of its total annual budget) on political and lobbying activities but only $30 million (or 16.5 percent) to represent its members.
That gap contributed to the breakaway from the AFL-CIO of the Teamsters, the Service Employees and other unions.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
The first documents received from unions in the Labor Department's demand for detailed financial disclosures, for the first time strictly enforcing the 1959 Landrum-Griffin labor reform act, suggest embarrassment by organized labor when the information is made public next month.
This is important because members have the right to "opt out" of paying that part of their dues that are used for political purposes. Another reason that it is to the union's advantage to understate that figure.
Wonder if there are penalties?
Hopefully the union members who do not agree with the political spending can opt-out.
There was a recent article here on FR where the Washington State (?) unions had a majority of government employees unionized and then the members could not opt-out.
I may have mistated this a little, but the general principal was accurate.
Here it is ...
"union-security clause"...
After 18 years with the state Department of Agriculture, Cathy Munson will work her last day today.
Munson, 56, isn't retiring. She's been fired for refusing to pay union dues or alternative fees as required under a labor agreement between the state and the 40,000-member Washington Federation of State Employees.
Effective July 1, the contract contains a "union-security clause" that allows the union to collect dues or fees from employees who become members — and from those who do not.
Munson objects to the clause, which she says was ratified by a minority of die-hard union members, leaving large numbers of the rank-and-file in the dark.
"At some point I just decided I had to say, 'That's enough.' Otherwise, I'm worthless," Munson said.
The mandatory fee payments are rooted in a law passed by the Legislature in 2002 that allows state workers to negotiate with the Governor's Office or university officials for pay raises and health benefits. Those contracts cover about 65,000 of the nearly 140,000 full- and part-time workers in state agencies or at the state's two- and four-year colleges.
The effort to enforce the union-security clause began in November, when the WFSE sent the names of 799 noncompliant employees to the state Labor Relations Office.
The office advised the agencies employing those workers to tell them they would be fired after Christmas if they didn't pay their dues or fees.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002783422_uniondues04m.html
Many years ago I was a union member and I still do not understand why any union member would vote for a Democrat. I have not a clue. It's ridiculous.
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