Unions Do Not Benefit All Employees

Michigan Capitol Confidential ^ | 1/20/2016 | Jarrett Skorup

[MichCapCon]

In the Friedrichs case before the U.S. Supreme Court, the core of union-supporters' argument is that government employees should be forced to pay fees to a union because they benefit from union activities. Not paying the union, they say, makes an employee a free rider.

Or, as The Atlantic put it recently: “[Rebecca] Friedrichs is not a member of the union, but, like many other public employees, is required to pay a so-called agency fee to cover the costs of collective bargaining and other negotiations with the school district — union activities that all teachers, even nonunion teachers like Friedrichs, benefit from in the form of higher salaries and better benefits.”

It is true that union members can benefit from union actions. But not all of them.

In fact, Rebecca Friedrichs says in a video profile that one of the major disputes between her and her local union was over the issue of using a “last in, first out” policy for teacher retention. In her district, the union was pushing for pay raises for teachers, but to pay for those raises, the district would be forced to lay off some teachers. According to the union contract, the teachers to be laid off would not be the ones deemed the least effective, but simply the ones with the least experience. Friedrichs says the union's insistence on getting pay raises for some members forced the district to lay off excellent teachers, including a few whom she had invested time and energy in mentoring. She says these teachers were loved by parents, their colleagues and even administrators. Her suggestion to the union was for all teachers to take a small pay cut in exchange for all teachers being able to keep their jobs. The union wouldn't listen to her and insisted on bargaining for pay raises despite the fact that it would mean good teachers would be laid off and everybody else would get increased class sizes.

The union members who were laid off certainly did not benefit from union activities. And the other teachers in the district who agreed with Rebecca Friedrichs — that a small pay cut was worth keeping good teachers on staff and maintaining current class sizes — didn't benefit either.

Whether or not one agrees with how that situation was handled, it is undeniable that this was a decision which created winners and losers. And nearly all bargaining decisions involve trade-offs, meaning some union members will benefit and others will pay a cost. The pending Friedrichs case questions whether it is proper to force all teachers, regardless of whether they agree with these union decisions, to financially support the union.

[Gaffer]

The problem with Unions is the entrenched leadership that adds no value to the work product of its members. It exists to suckle off the work of its members and pander to politicians in return for laws that solely benefit them at the expense of our country and their union members.

[meyer]

In the long run, they benefit NO employees because their goals serve to destroy the very employer from whom they seek benefits.

[blueunicorn6]

Unions always benefit union leaders.

[Haddit]

Back in 2007 I had some remodeling done and needed to upgrade my breaker box here in Los Angeles. I was BSing with the guys from Edison and the newbie on the roof hooking up my electricity had made over $100,000 the previous year.

My family is in the movie business. If you are one of the lucky ones to get into the Teamsters Local 399 for truck drivers, it instantly propels you into the over $100,000 mark.

As a young man, a friend and I were doing pick-up work on a construction job site and the union closed the project down.

My kid when he was 17 was offered a job in the Local 399 (I had connections). Even with my hatred for unions I urged him to go for it and my kid turned it down. He is nearing 40 now and is doing great.

A Mexican friend of mine wanted to treat me to a whore house. I turned him down saying I was germaphobic. He hired the whores to attend a party with the city of San Fernando in Los Angeles to get a union contract, he won the contract. Later, the cops moved in and busted the whore house. These girls were in fear of their family’s lives back in their home country.

[Vaduz]

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