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Letter to Savannah Morning News
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Letter to Savannah Morning News
Letters to the Editor
Savannah Morning News
P.O. Box 1088
Savannah, Georgia 31402-1088
Via: letted@savannahnow.com
Dear Letters Editor:
In his September 13, 2003 letter to the editor, Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 188 Business Manager Jack Love asserted that "Right to Work laws bar employers from entering into a collective bargaining contract that denies non-union workers representation by the union."
Either Mr. Love didn't bother to check his facts, or he is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of your readers.
Union officials themselves, under federal law, determine which workers are covered by union contracts.
Contrary to what Mr. Love and too many union officials claim, nothing in federal law prevents them and employers from negotiating contracts in which the employer recognizes the union for its members only -- even in Right to Work states.
Right to Work laws simply allow workers to chose for themselves whether a particular labor union is worthy of their membership or financial support.
No one should ever be forced to join or pay dues to Big Labor bosses in order to feed their families.
But Big Labor can opt out of representing workers who choose not to join their particular organization simply by negotiating "members-only" contracts that do not regulate pay, benefits and work rules for employees who choose not to join their union.
In 1938's Consolidated Edison decision, as well as in subsequent rulings, the U.S. Supreme Court has explicitly declared that federal law permits members-only bargaining.
The reason union officials rarely, if ever, bargain contracts covering only union members is not because federal law or Right to Work laws forbids such contracts, but because "exclusive" (monopoly) bargaining, which covers members and nonmembers alike, gives Big Labor the power it craves.
If anyone should be forced to pay for exclusivity, it should be the real beneficiaries -- union officials -- not union nonmembers.
Respectfully,
John F. Tate
Vice President
National Right to Work Committee®