A group of state employees in Washington, who recently became union members, now want out. Their beef with the union? They were told that membership and dues would be voluntary, but the union negotiated a clause requiring that all bargaining unit members pay dues as a condition of employment (known as a union security clause). One of the leaders of the group trying to decertify the union stated: “I feel they compromised my personal credibility,” Jennings said, explaining he helped persuade co-workers to form the bargaining unit. “I phone-banked, I knocked on doors,” he said. “And every time someone asked, ‘Does this mean I have to join the union,’ ‘Does that mean we’re going to have to pay dues’ … I said, ‘No, that’s something we may have to face down the road.’” I guess the negotiators had other ideas (they usually do when it comes to getting a union security clause). Union campaigns aren’t that much different from political elections in this regard – in my experience (well over 100 campaigns now) unions will tell people what they want to hear in order to get in. They then plan to damage control after that. Not that many people have the guts to decertify a union that fails to deliver on its promises, but this is the only way to force unions to take their commitments to members seriously.
