Friday, March 4, 2011
Republicans Move to Squash Unions—Except for Cops & Firefighters
David Safier at Blog for Arizona flags an interesting amendment to a bill designed to hamstring unions in Arizona by preventing automatic deductions from paychecks for dues:
In the original version, all unions were created equal — equally unable to make the deductions — that is, until a little noticed change was slipped into the revised, Senate Engrossed Version."Public safety employees" are exempted from the law in its latest incarnation. That means unions representing police, fire fighters, prison employees and probation officers will still be able to deduct funds for political purposes without written consent from their members...
There is absolutely no non-political reason why this one category of union employees should be exempted. None. The only four possible reasons are: (1) Republicans don't want to tangle with these unions; (2) Republican voter/supporters don't hate/demonize "public safety employees" like they do other public employees; (3) "Public safety employees" unions contribute to conservative causes; (4) All of the above.
Republicans aren't even trying to hide this blatant grab for political power, unless sneaking the provision in after the original bill was written can be construed as trying to hide it.
Read the rest here.
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