UNIONS HOPE TO KEEP WORKERS IGNORANT

FOR decades, government workers in New York were forced to pay the union or quit their jobs. Much like the poor schlub nightclub owner in “Goodfellas,” state and local employees were basically told “tough luck, pay me.” Some choice. In June the US Supreme Court fixed this by ruling in the Janus case that government workers can no longer be compelled to pay a union they didn’t want to join. These mandatory payments—aka“agency fees ”— were roughly the same amount as dues.

The decision has already put millions of dollars back into the pockets of tens of thousands of state and local public employees in 22 states. The Empire Center for Public Policy estimates that Janus will save workers $112 million a year in New York alone.

Since the decision came down, efforts have been underway to inform workers of their new rights. Leading the way in New York is NewChoiceNY, which has launched a Web site, newchoiceny.com, with facts and support to workers looking to rescind their union membership.

Contrary to the predictable howlings and fear mongering from the state’s public-employee-union leadership, this is no attempt to hurt unions. They do it to rile up their membership but it’s overblown and paranoid. It’s a bottomline-drive business tactic aimed at reducing revenue losses.

Worse, some unions don’t think their members can handle the facts. United University Professions, which represents SUNY college professors, implored its members to delete e-mails from our organization. Does the union really think PhDs need to be told what to read and what not to read?

That explains why the unions have ginned up their most active members to send me nasty e-mails, letters and not-suitable-for-work phone messages suggesting I attempt various biomechanical impossibilities and pack light clothing for the hereafter as it will be warm.

At one point a teachers union started a “boycott Bob” campaign and bombarded me with “nyah nyah it won’t work” e-mails. I’m guessing they got these ideas from some of their middle-school students.

What we’re doing is very simple: New York’s state and local government workers have rights they may not know about. Helping notify and educate them about those rights and how to exercise them if they wish is nothing to fear.

Yes, many of these workers — roughly 1 million, the Empire Center estimates — choose to join a union. But plenty don’t. The 200,000 workers who have already said no to union membership but were forced nonetheless to pay fees constitute about one of every six public employees across New York state.

Those workers should have already seen the end of those agency-fee deductions from their paychecks. To his credit, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli — a union guy all the way — stopped collecting agency fees from about 31,000 state employees with the first payroll in July.

At the same time, however, DiNapoli has thrown sand in the gears of public workers who want to leave unions by preventing state payroll departments from ending dues deductions until the union notifies them to. While this doesn’t prevent a worker from opting out, it gives the union control over when it happens.

Workers deserve facts that will help them make an informed choice. It’s safe to say the information we’re providing won’t be in their union newsletters.

Workers disenchanted with a union also need to know they’re not alone. We’ve heard from a great many men and women in the last month telling us they feel marginalized by the union and frustrated that union reps don’t pay attention to their needs.

A school employee in central New York says the union doesn’t care about people in her job title. A CUNY staffer reported being “ambushed by union reps. They basically made us sign into the union. Making it seem as if there was no other option.”

Depending on the job, annual dues to a public employee union range from several hundred to several thousand dollars. We’ve heard from workers who feel that money could be better used for retirement or daily living costs.

Unions work for many people but not for all. It’s those we are here to help.

We know government workers are smart enough to make good decisions for themselves and their families, if given all the information. It’s too bad some who say they’re protecting these workers’ rights are fighting so hard to keep them from exercising them.

Unions work for many people but not for ’ all. It’s those we are here to help.