Attempt to Forcibly Unionize UW Academic Staff Begins

So the push begins…

Several unions affiliated with American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin have begun a push to expand their membership by absorbing some 4,000 of the UW System’s academic staff into their units.

They plan to file unit clarification petitions to assign employees into existing unions - rather than giving these workers the chance to vote.

The newly passed state budget does give faculty and academic staff the right to be represented by a union if they choose. In those cases, unions would have to spend time and money on organizing campaigns and then have to win votes by targeted employees. Unit clarification petitions are a different process.

[...]

“We have recently learned that WPEC or other AFT representatives may be approaching UW staff members to discuss unit clarification, asking people to describe the nature of their duties,” Crist wrote in his e-mail.

“Approaching you for this purpose in the workplace while on work time is unacceptable.  You have no obligation to speak to union representatives while on work time.

Good for UW to oppose this.  Consider the fundamental unfairness of what the Democrats put in the budget.  If the union can “clarify” their jobs, then the staff can be forced into the union against their wills and then the union will extort dues out of their paychecks.  I thought unions were about a group of workers banding together to gain clout over management?  If the academic staff doesn’t want to vote to unionize, then why force them?

Oh yeah… the dues… much of which ends up in the coffers of Democratic politicians who, in turn, put crap like this into the budget to benefit the unions.