Forced union dues at work to count every "Gregoire" vote

Evergreen Freedom Foundation ^ | 12-7-04 | Jami Lund

[truth49]

OLYMPIA, WA—Necessity is motivating the Washington Education Association (WEA) and other unions to discard any facade of merely pursuing the interests of the workers.

Yesterday, the WEA sent out an urgent memo asking its members to "Please sign up today to serve as a Democratic Party observer for this count. To participate, please e-mail the party at count@wa-democrats.org." The training sessions to become an observer are held at six union halls around the state.

"Even though only slightly more than a third of the teachers identify themselves as Democrats, unions are jumping in to provide resources, staffing and volunteers for this civic service just to the Democrats," said Bob Williams of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation. "This further proves that the union does not make decisions on political expenditures by member consensus as it claims."

The WEA is not alone; the Washington State Labor Council is also soliciting contributions and encouraging local unions to donate paid staff to the Democratic Party's efforts to find more votes for Christine Gregoire.

"The WEA and other unions have made no attempt to seek worker approval for spending mandatory collective bargaining dues on a purely partisan recount effort," said Williams. "These dues are most often required because they are supposed to be used for bargaining and grievances, but union officials are once again diverting them to electioneering."

[truth49]

Washington State Labor Council fundraising and recruiting for recount
http://www.wslc.org/reports/12-03-04.htm#Recount

Washington State Labor Council donating staff
http://www.wslc.org/photos/temp/04%20recount-staff%2012-3.doc

Washington Education Association request for recount volunteers
http://www.washingtonea.org/news/election/election1203.htm

[skinkinthegrass]

DAMMIT BUSH!...withdraw Bubba's E.O. on the BECK Decision. ...Cast off their chains! Free the Workers!

[taxesareforever]

I get the feeling that the WEA is already feeling the pain of trying to exist with a Republican governor.

[JosefK]

Okay, "truth49" - which candidate is profoundly against ILLEGAL teacher strikes? Which candidate with a chance of winning sat on her hands during the Marysville crisis? There you go. All figured out... The WEA "leadership" are just a bunch of desperate feces looking for 43 votes to save their hides from a new Governor who has the backbone to stand up to them.