Republicans For Unions?
WE FORGOT, THIS IS SOUTH CAROLINA …
FITSNews - April 1, 2008 - Believe it or not, this isn’t an April Fool’s joke … S.C. Rep. Bob Walker has actually introduced a bill that would allow public sector unions to deduct their dues directly from government paychecks, which is basically another way of forcing South Carolina taxpayers to serve as the union’s accounting firm.
Organized labor - which has seen its nationwide membership rolls decline from 35% to 12% over the last fifty years - is pulling this kind of crap all over the country in a desperate attempt to shore up its dwindling political influence. Having proven unable to sustain itself on its own merits, the only way big labor can stay afloat is to force the taxpayers to pick up the tab for its fundraising efforts.
Last time we checked, one of the few (and we mean few) competitive advantages enjoyed by South Carolina was its status as a “right-to-work” state. We shouldn’t throw that away simply because Rep. Walker wants to position his nose a little further up the ass of the teachers unions. This moron has already tried to gut our state’s academic accountability standards, and now he wants us to start bankrolling teacher strikes?
Seriously, what the hell is wrong with Republicans in this state?
UPDATE - Looks like sucking up may not have the benefits Rep. Walker intended, as we just received an e-mail from the Palmetto State Teachers Association saying that the organization is “100% opposed to the payroll deduction legislation and always has been.”
Comments
By PalmettoPwnd on April 1st, 2008 at 1:36 pm
The NEA spent $9.2 million on lobbying last year. Good to know that SC taxpayers will get a chance to help pay for that.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5656808.html
By Clancy Jarvis on April 1st, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Here’s a sign for the fatty in the picture: “Teachers NEED to get their sorry asses back to the school house and teach the chilluns before they get FIRED for insubordination.” Welcome to a right to work state, baby!
By Reagan was a douchebag on April 1st, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Not exactly, numnuts. it’s so wrong that Unions “Having proven unable to sustain itself on its own merits,” lost influence because of their own merits…It was more like republican scumbags like Nixon, Reagan, and the Bushies systematically dismantled and circumvented labor laws in an effort to reward their rich elitist buddies on wallstreet at the expense of the working families of America.
And it shouldn’t be called right to work, it should be call right be fired for no reason and with no recourse.
I hope someday you get fired from a job after 19 years just days before you qualify for your pension so they can hire some college kid at a third of the cost.
By Gal Leo on April 2nd, 2008 at 11:20 am
#3:
If you in fact got fired after 19 years and were replaced by “some college kid at a third of the cost” I encourage you to call a lawyer. That is already agaisnt the law.
My guess, however, is that it didn’t happen…but was offered as a badly needed boost for an otherwise specious argument.
By Just Wondern on April 2nd, 2008 at 12:11 pm
#2 Clancy
What in hell is a “right to work state baby”?
By Arnold E. Karr on April 2nd, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I’ll try to say this without making personal remarks that have nothing to do with the issue:
1) Every public employees’ professional association in S.C. except The SCEA (and PSTA, I surmise) enjoys the convenience of payroll deducted dues.
2) Taxpayers would not incur any cost from payroll deduction of union dues, any more than they do from payroll deduction of United Way contributions, State Employees’s Association dues, law enforcement and correctional association dues — the list goes on and on.
3) NEA and The SCEA membership dues, like all union dues, may not be used for political action. Members may voluntarily contribute to PAC funds, but these contributions are not a requirement for membership.
4) Public employees in S.C. have neither collective bargaining rights, nor the right to strike, whether they belong to a union or not. The union serves to inform them of their rights (of which the state would often prefer they remain ignorant), to assist them in asserting those rights through internal grievance procedures and civil actions when informal resolution fails, and to lobby for legislation that guarantees competitive salaries, benefits, and working conditions.
5) Teachers who choose not to belong to the union benefit from the union’s lobbying activities at the membership’s expense. Most union members in S.C. that I know accept this as the cost of doing business in a “right to work” state and hope that non-members will in time do their part for the profession as a whole.
I hope I have been able to clear up some misconceptions.
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