Union executives are taking shady measures to guarantee their cash flow in preparation for the U.S. Supreme Court’s impending ruling that could end their ability to force people to pay for the intrinsically political work they do.
One scam some unions are using is the “Hotel California” racket – you can never leave.
Under this scheme, workers are told the sky is falling, but they can make a statement by signing a pledge of support for the union. Workers are asked, asked again, and pressured to show their solidarity by signing a simple statement of support for the middle class, the weekend, baseball, mom and apple pie.
The Federation of State Employees has created a “Member Connection Center” and hired well-paid employees to “connect members back to the union” and is marketing to get people to sign a “100 percent union membership card,” which can be done online without a signature.
Likewise, the Public School Employees union, SEIU local 1948, has been hounding people to sign cards—even if they are already members. The union mailed cards out to all its members, then texted workers to get the card signed and returned – much to the confusion of many who already were members.
Teamsters 117 is doing the same thing. It has created a special website and marketing campaign to harvest digital signatures to an online petition to indicate support for unions.
What is alarming is the fine print.
The contract obligating one to pay whatever dues, fees or assessments the union wishes to impose in whatever amount is irrevocable for a year, and may only be revoked at an obscure time using a process much more difficult than the online form making the promise.
The Freedom Foundation is suing SEIU over a similar irrevocable dues arrangement in Oregon on behalf of hundreds of caregivers who we know have asked to resign only to be denied.
So we told workers to read the fine print.
Tens of thousands of public employees have been alerted to their union’s greedy plan to lock them into payment obligations that would make a multi-level marketing shyster proud.
We have been getting a great response from those who prefer to fill out OUR form which lets them reclaim 25 to 30 percent of their dues as fee payers. More than 200 have already opted out of these three unions in a few days.
