A civil rights victory
The Supreme Court has ruled that unions can no longer force employees they allegedly represent to pay dues:
The Supreme Court dealt labor unions a sharp defeat Wednesday, ruling that teachers, police officers and other public employees cannot be forced to pay dues or fees to support their unions.
By a 5-4 vote, the justices overturned a 41-year-old precedent and ruled that the 1st Amendment protects these employees from being required to support a private group whose views may differ from theirs.
How something like this was allowable in the first place is astonishing. If you’re a member of these unions, your money is going to Democrats whether you like it or not.
I’m of the opinion that unions have run their course. It’s arguable that there was a need for them back when child labor and poor working conditions were a real thing. But that stuff has largely been regulated since. Now, they seem to exist for excessive perks, graft, and to make union leaders a lot of money, while providing little.
And Glenn with this zinger:
Of course, if the unions provided value, they wouldnt have to force people to pay dues.
Heh. Indeed.
June 28th, 2018 at 9:16 am
Having Unions, the Labor Board, and OSHA, is triply redundant.
June 28th, 2018 at 9:46 am
Public service unions are an abomination of corrupt practices and should be outlawed. If the local, state, and federal governments cannot implement employment law sufficiently to manage their employees, either rewrite the law or get new office holders to run the show.
A system whereby government a union pays campaign cash to office seekers&holders , and then those same office holders “negotiate” the contracts with the union, is the very definition of corruption and should be stopped.
June 28th, 2018 at 1:18 pm
It’s arguable that there was a need for them back when child labor and poor working conditions were a real thing. But that stuff has largely been regulated since.
Being a retired Firefighter, unsafe manning levels of trucks was hardly a “back when” thing.
There are NFPA guidelines for this but they aren’t carved in stone, they’re guidelines.
If a town, city or state want to roll the dice, there’s not much you can do about it until someone is dead. Only then does the fit hit the shan.
@mikee – I agree with the sentiment of your post that unions are *WAY* too political but if you abolish them, who holds the city’s feet to the fire regarding safety standards? For the most part, those standards are not codified law.
(your state may be different)
Trust me, the union rubber stamp of approval going to dipsticks that hand out reach-arounds is disgusting to a very sizable amount of union members who are not drunk on the koolaid.
We can bitch up the chain but those are deaf ears we were talking to when you get to AFL-CIO hierarchy.
June 28th, 2018 at 3:54 pm
Any forced payment or participation in anything will always result in corruption just like any other form of socialism.
As to the city’s feet being held to the fire, there is no difference in gov or private enterprise as to adherence to standards; the market will ultimately reward or punish entities of either that don’t.