See These Stories of Forced Union Membership and Political Contributions

The Blaze
February 14, 2012
by Becket Adams

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing to investigate allegations of “forced unionism” and different ways in which unions use collected dues to contribute to political campaigns.

In order to emphasize what many believe to be a serious and growing problem, the committee will release the personal stories of three union members who claim they have been denied a choice in joining a union.

The first video features Terry Bowman, a Ford assembly-line worker who spoke out before the House Oversight Committee about union leaders taking his dues in order to fund partisan politics that directly contradict his personal beliefs:



The second video features Claire Waites, a teacher from Daphne, AL., who joined the local teachers union to obtain liability insurance.

However, in order to obtain coverage, she was forced to remain a union member. Waites reported at a recent Oversight hearing that her union pressured her to contribute to a “children’s fund” that was actually a slush fund used to finance special interest groups and union agendas.



The third video features Sally Coomer of Duvall, WA., who is a homecare worker of her disabled adult daughter. Under the current law, she is forced to become a member of the SEIU, according to the Oversight committee.

“As a member, $95 a month is taken for union dues, which go to fund causes she does not support. That $95 could provide an additional 9 to 10 hours of care for her daughter,” the committee reports.



“I wrote about this last November, when both Michigan and Minnesota tried to extend this forced-unionism into day-care operations as well as home-care situations,” writes Ed Morrissey of Hot Air.

“There is no reason to force parents who receive Medicaid to care for developmentally-disabled children into unions, except to pick their pockets for the benefit of union bosses and political parties. It’s positively ghoulish, as I wrote at the time, and only the efforts of Republican-controlled legislatures in both states kept them from forcing babysitters into unions,” he adds.

As the problem continues to grow (or, rather, as things slowly come to light), the Oversight Committee pledges more investigations into forced unionism:

On February 8th, the Committee published a report finding that the Obama Administration and recent court cases have directly contributed to the loss of workplace freedom as well as worker rights violations endured by Ms. Coomer, Mr. Bowman and Ms. Waites.

As the federal government aids and abets these violations, union leaders spent more than $1.1 billion on partisan politics during the 2010 election cycle. The Committee will continue to investigate the growing lack of accountability and transparency in how union leaders take dues money from rank-and-file members and spend that money on political causes many of their own members oppose.

See the full committee report here.