Employee Freedom Week

Member Group : PA Right to Work

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Matthew Wagner 570-380-3303

PA Right to Work Announces Employee Freedom Week

PA Right to Work is proud to announce its participation in the National Employee Freedom Week, the effort to educate union members on their rights when it comes to union membership.

"Under federal law, despite the claims of union bosses, individuals cannot be forced to join a union", says PA Right to Work President and Ceo Susan Staub. "Unfortunately, union bosses don’t make it very easy for their members to understand what their rights are, so other organizations have to educate them."

Individuals working for a business that has been unionized has several options. First, they can choose to join the union. Secondly, they can choose to be a "fee-paying" member and only have the portion of the dues that the union has determined to be necessary for labor negotiations to be paid. Third, they can file an objection on religious grounds and have their union dues be donated to a nonprofit organization of the union’s choice.

The other option a union member has is to band with their fellow union members and decertify their local union so all members of that union have the right to choose for themselves whether union benefits are appropriate for themselves and their families. No matter which option the worker chooses, if the union chooses to represent all workers to increase their bargaining power (as they usually do) the union has to represent all workers.

"A recent survey found that almost 1 out of every 3 union members in Pennsylvania want their independence from union bosses" says Staub. "Either these bosses don’t think their members are smart enough to choose their own benefits, or they are worried the members would recognize they aren’t getting their money’s worth for their dues. No one says that individuals shouldn’t be able to join a union if they choose to do so, we believe (and the majority of Pennsylvanians agree with us) that they should know what all their choices are before making that decision. For more information on your rights as a union member, and to learn how to exercise those rights, visit www.parighttowork.org."