Unions' service fees amount to forced membership

Tuesday, May 3, 2005

People are not normally expected to pay fees or dues to organizations of which they are not members.

But that is exactly what many could be doing soon if they are among the almost 12,000 state workers in Maine who are covered by union contracts.

It is an unfair requirement to which no one should have agreed when the latest two-year contracts were being negotiated earlier this year.

The "fair share" provision in the contracts stipulates that beginning July 1, all state workers who are not members of a union -- but who are working under the terms of a union contract -- will be required to have money deducted from their pay to cover the cost of contract negotiations.

The provision would affect about 2,800 nonunion workers who would pay about $3.35 a week for the first year and $6.71 a week in the second year.

Union members, meanwhile, pay $9.10 a week in dues.

Officials with the unions -- the Maine State Employees Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees -- insist it is only right that nonunion employees pay the service fees since they benefit from the wage increases, health insurance and other benefits provided in the labor contracts.

We disagree.

The fees amount to forced memberships to what are supposed to be voluntary organizations.

If employees choose not to join a union, they are also choosing not to support one financially.

While that might frustrate union officials and employees who belong to unions and pay dues, organized labor should not have the right to seize a portion of people's pay if those people have opted not to become union members.

Under the law, the wages and benefits provided under the labor contracts apply to 11,760 state employees, including workers who do not join one of the unions.

In the parlance of organized labor, those who do not join or pay dues are "free riders" -- people who benefit from negotiations and the resulting contracts but do not contribute financially toward the cause.

"All we're asking for is for them to pay their fair share for the work we do for them," said Dana Graham, president of the Maine State Employees Association, which represents some 10,600 workers as part of the Service Employees International Union

Graham says the union agrees that no state worker is required to join a union. The First Amendment guarantees the right of free association.

But while the state cannot force employees to join labor unions, it can require them to pay service fees.

That said, the state should not have agreed to the service fee provisions in the contracts. Government should have no part in abetting -- or in harming -- unions. And even though Democratic Gov. John E. Baldacci won strong union support during the 2002 gubernatorial campaign, he and the Democrat-controlled Legislature should avoid the appearance of favoring unionized workers over those who are nonunion.

Many state workers say they oppose the service fees because those workers do not agree with the unions' political views.

For example, workers say they are bothered by the unions' efforts to get state employees to support Democratic candidates in most races.

Although union officials say the fees paid by nonunion employees will not go to political efforts or activities, state workers should not be forced to contribute to organizations that they do not support or with which they disagree politically or philosophically.

Some nonunion state employees are trying to organize support among state workers to force a vote on the issue. They are hoping to remove the service fee provision from the contract.

We hope they are successful.