What the Unions Fear

[Geee]

American Spectator:

Demonstrators at the Wisconsin capitol, union representatives and absent Democratic state senators concede in interviews that they don't object to a bill requiring teachers and other public employees to pay 12.5 percent of their health insurance (up from five percent), or up to half of their pension deposits. It is the curbing of collective bargaining that has brought on near hysteria and a fierce campaign to discredit Governor Scott Walker's legislation.

For the union leaders the consequences of passage of the legislation could be devastating to their sinecures. Amid all the shouting, placards and banging on pots and pans in the capitol, two elements of the bill have received only passing attention. One would stop state collection of union dues. The other would require the unions to be recertified, by vote of all members, every year.

Currently, the State of Wisconsin automatically deducts union dues from public employee paychecks and it goes to the unions. The unions then use as much of the money as the leaders wish to give to candidates who will look favorably on their demands (almost always Democrats). Thus, the taxpayers are subsidizing partisan election donations.

This "closed shop" arrangement would change under the new law. Once it passed the state would no longer deduct union dues from paychecks. Employees would only pay dues voluntarily by signing a union card. The unions would have to go through the process of collecting the dues. This would increase their administrative costs and thus reduce the amount of money available for campaign donations. And, the union leaders would have to persuade employees of the value of joining. That's a lot more work than sitting back and staring at the ceiling while a trove of dues comes pouring in from the state.