Under federal labor law union membership in the private sector is entirely voluntary. Unions are democratic organizations controlled by their members.
Federal law requires that local union officers be elected by secret ballot.
Union members enjoy many participatory rights within their unions, including the opportunity to run for office in union elections, and attend, speak and vote in membership meetings. Federal law also affords members access to information about union finances and operations, and guarantees that union rules are applied on an equal and nondiscriminatory basis among all members. And, federal law specifically provides that a local union can raise members' dues only by a secret-ballot membership vote. Unions and employers often enter into agreements requiring nonmembers to pay their fair share of the union's costs. That's because the union remains the nonmember's collective bargaining agent, and by law the union must represent nonmembers as vigorously as it does members in grievances, arbitrations, bargaining and every other aspect of representation.