PATTERSON AND KOVACS: Labor bosses demand their dues

CEI Policy analyst Trey Kovacs and CEI Warren Brooks Fellow Matt Patterson. Washington Times 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/may/10/labor-bosses-demand-their-dues/

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude … shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

– United States Constitution, 13th Amendment

Labor bosses are fighting to keep people in unions against their will, forcibly collecting dues from unwilling members and using those dues to line their own pockets. In effect, labor leaders have imposed their own system of “involuntary servitude” on recalcitrant union members.

In California, for example, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) bosses in Fresno are engaged in a war to keep disgruntled members from defecting. Worker disenchantment with SEIU representation began in January, when Fresno County officials were forced to cut public workers’ wages by 9 percent in light of the government’s dire financial straits. Outraged SEIU bigwigs reacted in typical fashion by calling for a three-day strike.

But rank-and-file SEIU members were less than eager to blame county officials for trying to right the government’s sinking fiscal ship. Union workers realized a return to financial stability required a shared sacrifice and took a dim view of their union bosses’ petulant agitations. Before long, Fresno County workers began to seek decertification from SEIU.