Lt. Gov R-Dan Patrick Fighting Democracy By Trying To Limit Labor Union Membership

[DhhD]

http://www.texastribune.org/2015/10/12/analysis-old-bill-comes-due/

Under current law, public employees in Texas can pay their dues to unions, or nonunion employee organizations, by having them deducted from their government paychecks. Conservatives pushed legislation earlier this year that would have prohibited those deductions for everyone except employees in certain police, fire and emergency medical services organizations.

Getting rid of the automatic payments would shrink the number of people sending payments to their employee groups, weakening the groups and, with them, the politicians those groups support. Republicans and others supporting the idea have been upfront about it. The Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank in Austin, studied the issue and found getting rid of the practice meant more public employees held onto their money instead of sending it to their unions and non-union associations.

Union officials fought the legislation, essentially making the same point from their own perspective. Becky Moeller, until earlier this year president of the Texas AFL-CIO, said it would be “a blow to the members” and would harm their ability to organize.

complete article at link share page

[Gothmog]

1. Dan Patrick is a nut case