On Sat, 13 Nov 2004, John Lacny wrote:
> Lance Murdoch gives away the game:
>
> > I am against right-to-work laws, since I
> > think it's none of the government's business,
> > but I don't see why shops should be closed
> > shops. Workers shouldn't have to be forced
> > to join a union, they should want to join a
> > union.
Here's the problem: if the union exists and improves working conditions and compensation in an organization, all workers benefit, not just workers who join the union. If you don't have a closed shop, you encourage people to be freeriders: they get all the benefits of being represented by a union and none of the obligations (e.g., union dues, union meetings, negotiation sessions).
I'm speaking from personal experience here: I'm the faculty union president at my college this year, and union membership is voluntary. About 3/4 of the full-time faculty belong to the union. It's starting to piss me off how I'm working my ass off to improve working conditions and compensation for the "freerider" faculty members who don't pay union dues. The more I get into this stuff, the more equitable a closed shop looks to me. (Agency fees--where nonunion members pay a contribution equivalent to union dues--is also a possibility.)
Miles