Union Security is the enactment of various policies in an employer-union agreement to ensure the union's continued survival. "Closed shops," in which the company may only employ union workers, were outlawed in the Taft-Hartley Act over president Truman's veto. However, "Union shops," which require new employees to join the union within 30 days, are allowed (with some exceptions, for example those expelled from the union and those with religious objections to unions must be exempted).
All union security arrangements can be and have been outlawed by the states by so-called "Right-to-work laws".
A distinction should be made between unionsecurity clauses allowed by law and those imposed by law, only the latter of which appear to result in a trade union monopoly system contrary to the principles of freedom of association.
The deduction of trade union dues by employers and their transfer to trade unions is a matter which should be dealt with through collective bargaining between employers and all trade unions without legislative obstruction.
Where unionsecurity arrangements exist requiring membership of a given organization as a condition of employment, there might be a discrimination if unreasonable conditions were to be imposed upon persons seeking such membership.
The Communications Workers of America policy on agency fee objections is the union's means of meeting its legal obligations to employees covered by unionsecurity clauses and of effectuating those employees' legal rights as stated in the applicable decisions of the United States Supreme Court, including CWA v.
Under the CWA policy, employees who are not members of the union, but who pay agency fees pursuant to a unionsecurity clause, may request a reduction in that fee based on their objection to certain kinds of union expenditures.
In addition to any other avenue of relief available under the law, objectors will have the option of challenging the union's calculation of the reduced fee before an impartial arbitrator appointed by the American Arbitration Association, and a portion of the objector's fee shall be held in escrow while he or she pursues that challenge.
Feeds |
Contact