Public Employees Should Get To Vote On Union Representation

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Bob Dick, a Policy Analyst at the Commonwealth Foundation, talked with Dom Giordano from Talk Radio 1210 WPHT about their appeal for public employee unions to face periodic recertification from union members.

Dick said public employees deserve the right to hold their union representatives accountable.

"What we're calling for is for periodic elections and either, at the end of, say, four years or the end of a collective bargaining agreement, the union would stand in front of their members and the members get to decide whether or not they want to keep their current union, go to another union or have no union representation at all. This is really putting power in the hands of public employees and taking it away from the public union executives in the state."

He stated that denying public employees that opportunity only benefits union leaders themselves

"The deck is stacked against public employees in Pennsylvania. If you look at labor law, it's really stacked in favor of government union executives at the expense of public employees."

Dick pointed out that most union members have never voted in a union election at all.

"The way the law was written in Pennsylvania, it is extremely difficult for teachers across school districts in the state or the state employees to hold what is known as a decertification election, which is basically the way that public employees get rid of their union, or choose a new union, or they could re-elect the union. Because this is so difficult, what you have is more than 99 percent of teachers in school districts across Pennsylvania have not had an opportunity to vote for the union that's currently representing them."