Re: forum program about union dues

[Robert <http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert>]

 > From: Noelle <noelle>
 > Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2015 13:36:17 -0700 (PDT)
 >
 > you should read the comments. some guy was saying something about public 
 > sector employee unions that I don't fully understand, that other unions 
 > are fine, but not those,since public sector work for we the people/state?

Well, that's what the guest on the program was arguing (forgot his name).
I'm not sure that I buy that (so to speak) since, in theory, a public
employee could just as easily boycott a corporation as he/she could
"boycott" the union dues.  I.e., the money earned by a government employee
isn't a "tax-payer fund", but just money like anybody else would earn.
Once that money no longer has a connection with its source (i.e., taxes
paid by citizens), then it doesn't matter what the money is used for --
lobbying or anything else.

For the issue about whether the public sector should have unions at all:
people should be free to form whatever organizations they wish without
limit.  Wouldn't that too be covered under the first amendment?

In fact, it really comes down to what the obligations are as an employee.
If part of the job involves reduced pay specifically for the purposes of
political work, then it should instead be an issue that the Federal
Elections Commission should have to deal with, not a court, right?  (I
would argue that, by the very concept of profit, you implicitly are
contributing part of your pay to "political work" since your employer can
use that money for any political purpose whatsoever.)

 > On Wed, 1 Jul 2015, Robert wrote:
 >  > Too bad there wasn't any mention of monopoly capitalism.  It is impossible
 >  > to dissent when there is only one choice -- a monopoly -- and, therefore,
 >  > allowing people to "boycott" union dues creates an asymmetric situation
 >  > where unions are deprived of funds whereas monopolies continue to earn as
 >  > much as they want for political or any other purposes.