May 04 2009
Taxation Without Representation!!!
No, I’m not taking you back in time to discuss the origins of the American revolution. I am writing today to tell you about a story that is personal to me because it is happening to me right now. I work for an employer in the grocery business, which happens to be unionized. I not going to name the union but I’m sure that you could research who I am talking about if are curious. My experience with the union has fundamentally changed the way that I view unions. Here is the meat and potatoes of the story pardon the pun.
About a year and half ago I was approached by the union that was established where I work. At the time I thought that joining a union was a good idea. I thought this because at the time I believed that unions stood up for the average worker and made sure they were properly represented and treated fairly. To be included in the union members have to pay membership dues. This is to be expected and I had no problem with that. By giving my financial support to the union, one would expect to receive some kind of benefit right? Well after being in the union for a year and a half I felt that the union was performing poorly and were not living up to their end of the bargain. What do you do when you feel like someone is not doing their job? You fire them right? Well that’s what I proceeded to do. As a wage-earner and a independent red-blooded American I have a right to associate and to dis-associate with whatever group I want to right?
I sent a letter to the union stating that I wanted to end my membership with them and to end the due payment coming out of my weekly paycheck. The union said in response ” Please be advised that your request for withdrawal is accepted. You will no longer be eligible for members only benefits, or participate in union meetings or activities.” The letter also goes on to say that because I didn’t submit a request to end membership due payments at the “appropriate time”, they will continue to take due payments out of my paycheck. IS this even LEGAL? How can the end my membership but continue to take my money? To me this is compares to unfair taxation without representation!! I can’t go to meetings/activities or have a voice in the contract negotiations when they submit a vote to the union members for ratification. This is not fair!! As long as they are taking my money I should have a say right? I am essentially forced to support a group that I don’t believe in… I am utter amazed that they can get away with this!
Unions claim that they stand up for the working people.. Please do not buy into this message!! The only things that unions want is your money! You need to protect yourself! Unions will not make your life any better, trust me. I believe that individuals and employers can create a workable situation where both parties can get the things they need from the partnership without unionizing. Unions make goods and services more expensive because artificial wage increases employers have to pay for get passed down to the consumer in the form of higher prices. In order to make a profit, stay economically viable and to pay for the wage increases a business will raise costs of goods to recoup profits lost from raising wages. It hurts consumers in the long run. Haven’t you noticed that the price of goods has always gone up not down? You should check the correlation between artificial wage increases and price of goods and services. Read this, this is a good essay about unions and economics (link ) This is also a good read (link)
I also believe that we as a people of this country need to create and to embrace a culture of personal responsibility. We need to start relying on oneself and our god given ability to create the life we want to live. The opportunities this country gives us are boundless and should be taken advantage of. Getting educated, learning how to balance your finances, having a dream and chasing that dream in hopes of achieving it one day is what makes America great. Lets not lose sight of these ideals in a time where government and entities like unions think they have all they answers. They do not. Only when people wake up to the fact that government is wrong more often that they are right, and that following a group without questioning them will America be capable of its full potential again.
I belonged to the UFCW for years. Unfortunately, I did not live in a “Right to Work” state so I had no choice but to join. Thanks to their incompetence, they failed to take union dues out of my check for several months. When I left the union to take a non-union office job for the grocery chain I worked for, they were supposed to issue me a card that would not require me to pay initiation dues if I ever rejoined the union. They would not issue the card unless I agreed to pay any of the “back dues” that they failed to collect.
dickster1961,
I don’t like the way the ufcw operates.. I think they do a terrible job at representing “the worker” and are more concerned with maintaining power and influence than actually helping working families in my opinion.
This is the usual simple-minded anti-union screed, and quite frankly you’re not the first person this has happened to. If you ever read the union contract, you would probably discover that an individual’s right to quit the union is spelled out rather thoroughly in the contract. Keep in mind two things:
1. The union contract is written for the benefit of you, the worker. You may not see it that way, but that doesn’t change the facts. Does your union workplace pay better or worse than a competitive company in the same line of work? Is there a grievance process spelled out for workers’ individual problems or are people just fired willy-nilly whenever a personality conflict arises between a worker and a manager? Oh, and ask yourself whether you really have a conflict with the union or are you just determined to have those union dues deposited in your own account rather than earmarked to support the union? Are you really offended by the idea that union workplaces pay better and protect the rights of workers better than comparable non-union workplaces?
2. If people could just come and go in union membership as they please, well, you wouldn’t have a union, so if the rule is a rather restrictive one, it nevertheless was agreed to by a vote of the union membership at some point and is therefore binding.
If the union at your workplace is not performing on behalf of the workers, it is possible to order a decertification election. Indeed, your employer would happily work closely with you to further your ambition to decertify the union. There are consultancies that specialize in this line of endeavor and would be happy to deputize you on behalf of your company. Of course, you’d need to get 50 percent plus one of your fellow workers to go along with you. Do you think they would? If so, you’ve got a decertification election coming. If not, ask yourself why, and consider the points I made as reasons why they wouldn’t.
Sal Hepatica ,
Simple minded? Please give me a break. I am assuming your a union supporter.. Sure maybe I should have read the contract a little better but that’s not main point of my arguement. I was simply asking how the union could revoke my membership but still take dues from my paycheck. Since I am a dues paying member I should still have a voice in the union until they stop taking dues from me. How is it fair for the union to take money from me but not give me any sort of representation? In my opinion they are violating my rights as a worker to have control over my wealth that I create. The unions are not the ones that are putting in the hours. I AM! I have a right to the money I make as a wage earner. I see the union as a leech draining my prosperity.
To answer your question, no my union workplace pays LESS than a work place that is non union. What do you have to say about that? The company respects it employees and gives them a good wage to show them that they do. NO union was needed for this. Unions are a joke. Also my workplace has internal policies that they follow when it comes to grievances independent of the union.
I have a conflict with the union because I believe they are not doing their job. They do not keep people informed of what is going on, they don’t hold meetings, rallies or anything like that. How else am I supposed to judge them? I felt like I was not getting a return on my investment of supporting the union. I should have every right to end my membership with the union and take my money with me. I feel the money that the union steals from me could be better spent by me. I could invest it in my IRA that I have or a savings account instead of funding a incompetent union.
I don’t think union membership should be as rigid as it. People should be able to come and go as the please. If they are not doing their jobs people should be free to leave without penalty. in my opinion Unions should be held to the same standard as politicans. If they are not doing their job they will not recieve votes. If the union is not doing their job people should be allowed to stop funding them.
Im not looking to take on the union, I am just calling into question how they can take my money but not represent me and not give me a voice in the workplace? How is this legal? Basically this is like taxation without representation. Last time I checked the founding fathers went to war over something like this.. The way the union is treating me is not right. How can you justify this Sal? please enlighten me with your wisdo….*sarcasm*