[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text]A recent survey of public-sector union members in 22 states without right-to-work laws showed more than half of them approve of their new rights under the Janus v. AFSCME ruling.
A survey of 311 public-sector union members, including four in Connecticut, found 51 percent said the changes were positive and one-third of respondents said they plan to “change what they are paying” in dues.
Lloyd Corder, Ph.D. of Carnegie Mellon University conducted the study to “better understand how state government employees view this ruling and whether they plan to continue or stop paying dues.”
Of the respondents who viewed the Janus decision positively, 37 percent said it protected their personal rights and freedoms, while 22 percent said it ended an unfair labor practice, and 18 percent said it allows them to save money.
Seventeen percent of respondents were unsure what they thought of the Supreme Court decision and 37 percent disliked the change, according to the survey.
“If the union is not supporting or representing the worker, then he or she should not be required to pay money for unfair treatment.”
“I believe people should be able to choose whether or not they are part of a union. Some people might not feel the union represents them or cannot afford for union dues to be taken out of their paychecks.”
“I’m no longer forced to give my money to the union, that I can now decide based and how I feel the union is doing representing me.”
The results of the study are similar to findings from a 2016 survey by the Nevada Policy Research Institute, which found nearly 67 percent of union members supported giving workers the right to leave their union and 27 percent saying they would resign membership if they could.
The results also differ greatly from a new survey of the general population, which showed an increase in approval of unions. A survey of 1,024 adults by Gallup showed 61 percent approved of labor unions, although the survey did not differentiate between unions in the private sector and government unions.
Union membership overall has declined in the United States. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics only 10.7 percent of workers are unionized. Union membership for government employees is six times higher than that of the private sector.
According to a 2018 report by the Economic Policy Institute, 68 percent of Connecticut’s union members work for state or local government, the third highest rate in the country behind New York and Rhode Island.
Numbers from the State Comptroller’s Office show that 94 percent of the state’s full-time workforce is unionized, more than 47,000 employees.
Following the Janus decision, the Comptroller’s Office stopped deducting agency fees from nonmembers, potentially costing Connecticut’s government unions $3.4 million per year.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]
Kendall Svengalis
September 10, 2018 @ 7:08 pm
This decision is long overdue. Forced unionization violates the basic American right of free association. No individual should be forced to join any organization as a condition of employment. Because it serves the interest of labor bosses, however, and because they control the pursestrings of the unions, they can use union dues to advance their personal political favorites, i.e. those who support bigger and more intrusive government. Because of the unholy alliance between the Demiocrat Party and organizaed labor–particularly public employee unions–they will do everything in their power to channel union dues to Democrat Party coffers, or on behalf of Democrat candidates, whether through direct political action, or through all forms of union communication, e.g. newsletters to members websites, etc. This gives the false impression that all union members support what their leadership is doing when it is advocacy on behalf of the leaders’ particular preferences. And because union leaders are invariably left-wing Democrats, union members are forced to support the full panoply of Democrat policy positions, regardless of their right to make their own decisions on each one of them. In that regard, unions behave much like the party with whom they are in league. That is, they seek to control their members as they would control society, like sheep.