The state Attorney General, in her settlement with the WEA, legitimized labor's practice of using general, compulsory dues to fund union leaders' politics. It is for this reason that the fight to protect the paychecks of teachers and workers must go on. As it stands now, union leaders are playing politics with more and more illegitimate funds, and in the process they are distorting the electoral process. The claim goes, if union members are odds with their leaders' political agenda, a simple majority can change the face of the union overnight. Well, it appears that more than a simple majority has now spoken in at least two of Washington state's high-profile public unions.
Union leaders are right to fear the enforcement of paycheck protection in Washington.
It drains their political power, returns it to the individual union member, and forces union bosses to raise voluntary contributions like the rest of us.