In 1973, 23% of public- and private-sector employees belonged to a union. Forty-five years later, just 6.5% of private-sector employees are union members, but the story is much different in the public sector, where 34.4% of workers are in a union, writes Business Report Publisher Rolfe McCollister in his latest column.
This growth is due largely to a 1977 Supreme Court ruling that forced all public employees in some states to join a union and pay dues if there was collective bargaining, McCollister writes. That decision was overturned on June 27, freeing public employees from compulsory union dues.
“Billions of dollars have been extracted from employees over the past 40 years, rolling into union coffers,” McCollister writes. “Much of that money was then funneled to support pro-union Democratic candidates. What a racket and a shame.”
McCollister argues the ways union dues are used to support Democratic politicians is especially evident with teachers’ unions, which use their money to fund politicians willing to fight to protect union members and the status quo over the interests of parents and students. Our children, schools and nation have suffered as a result, he concludes.
And when public employees are given the freedom of choice about joining a union (the unions and Democrats greatest fear), he predicts many will follow their peers in the private sector and that percentage of membership will drop quickly.
Read the full column, in which McCollister also discusses Gov. John Bel Edwards’ slanted promotion of the recent sales tax decision, the Baton Rouge Zoo, tax votes on the ballot this December and a third bridge over the Mississippi River. Send comments to editor@businessreport.com
