This was what they feared, the day when they would have to convince public sector union members to kick in union dues voluntarily and separate from payroll deduction.
While it is too early to say how successfu the unions will be, early signs are that there will be a cash drain, as reported by the Wisconsin State Journal:
Leaders of the major unions say it’s too early to talk about how many are paying by writing checks or arranging automatic withdrawals from bank accounts, but two locals contacted by the State Journal reported early successes and continuing efforts to win 100 percent participation.
The local representing Jefferson County highway workers reported 70 percent are on board with a $35 a month payment, while just under half of Grant County support service workers have chipped in the $35 to $40 a month their local has requested.
“The more we stand up and fight, the more we’ll get,” said Chris Marfilius, a trustee for Grant County’s Local 918 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Marfilius said that some of her co-workers haven’t signed up because they believe the union can’t do much now that state law limits collective bargaining to cost of living raises, and forbids negotiations on anything else including sick days, work hours, overtime or grievance procedures.
Participation rates of 50-70% may seem fine on the surface, but this still represents a loss of 30-50% of union income, and those number likely will dwindle over time.
This will not affect the current statewide political battles in the short run, since national unions (and those opposed to them) are putting in huge amounts of money. The effect longer term will be damaging to the power of the local unions, once the national unions have moved on to national battles.
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Any plan that kills their income is a good plan. Cut of the cash head, and the body dies.
That should say “cut OFF their cash head.” Forgive me. I’m a product of Seattle Public Schools.
….. reported 70 percent are on board with a $35 a month payment, ….just under half of Grant County support service workers have chipped in the $35 to $40 a month…
Rubes.
I’m wondering where the contribution amount comes from? My forced withdrawal as a public instructor is 3X’s that each month?
Speaks volumes if they’ve dropped the amount they were having automatically withdrawn.
A side effect of being too long in the public’s employ is diminished mental capacity. The illogical seems rational.
It’s like opening the gate on a corral. Cattle mill around, in and out, for days until they finally figure out what freedom is and wander away. Likewise, state workers will take about a year to come to their senses – and then discover what they lost. Boy, will they be embarrassed when it all comes back to them!
Here in Wisconsin, diminished public union coffers will have the added effect of diminished union money laundering through the Democrat Party. The tie (cash) that has bound the two together for several decades will be severely strained for the next couple of years. All of the rancor since Walker’s election has brought to light more than a few rather shocking examples of just how symbiotic that relationship had become… from local school boards all the way up through government to the Governor’s office. The public unions in many instances owned both sides of a negotiating table and were pretty much “bargaining in good faith” with themselves. Members of private sector unions sat out of work while public projects money was diverted to cover rising “costs” of public employees. Apparently not all union brothers are created equally.
Taxpayers here are receiving quite an education in the effects of not keeping a critical eye on government.
Thanks, Prof, for the link to contribute regarding the elections next week in Wisconsin.
“The more we stand up and fight, the more we’ll get,” said Chris Marfilius, a trustee for Grant County’s Local 918 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Translation: The more we threaten our members, the more they’ll pay.
TP1234: Your translation is right on the mark. Unions, like other criminal enterprises, seem to always rely on the specter of physical violence to keep their sheeple in line.
[…] record were from two local ones, and those numbers are 50% to 70%; as Legal Insurrection helpfully points out, that works out to a dropout rate of between 30% and 50% percent. And who here thinks that, if […]