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> Seems no worse than an employer doing the same, directly or via interest groups.

Well, in one scenario it's their money being spent. In the other, it's yours. You don't draw a pretty clear distinction there?




You get upset that tenants are subsidizing a landlord's political spending without a say? Any time you give money to anyone else for any purpose, for that matter? And "their money" comes from your labor (plus their capital, in some share, yes) as surely as "your money" does. This is a way less clear-cut distinction than you're making it out to be, and may not be relevant anyway:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_shop#United_States


I've been known to boycott companies for political actions I don't like. It is much easier to boycott when there is an option down the street that is otherwise equal.

Switching jobs is harder: could you be working for a different company tomorrow, or would it take a few weeks to figure out. Switching unions is often impossible: the same union often covers everyone with the same skills.


> This is a way less clear-cut distinction than you're making it out to be

It really isn't. I think we can all make arguments as to why we're justified in taking from others, but that doesn't change the reality of what is happening.

> may not be relevant anyway:

AFAIK this means only public sector non-union employees cannot be forced to pay for unions' political activities. Private sector employees are still on the hook. Unless there's something else you're trying to draw attention to.


> AFAIK this means only public sector non-union employees cannot be forced to pay for unions' political activities. Private sector employees are still on the hook. Unless there's something else you're trying to draw attention to.

I'll pick out the part I think's most relevant, since yeah, that's a big ol' wall of text.

"Under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), as amended by the Taft-Hartley Act, and held by the Supreme Court in Communications Workers of America v. Beck that in a union security agreement, unions are authorized by statute to collect from non-members only those fees and dues necessary to perform its duties as a collective bargaining representative known as agency fees.[12]"

Collect fees? Yes. Spend those fees on political activities, if you're a non-member? No. Unless I'm misreading this. The public unions bit comes next and says that public sector unions can't even collect the agency fees from non-union members, which is a step farther and into union-busting territory. The original point was that union fees amount to compelled political speech, though (again, so does your company spending on politics, assuming they're making money off you even in an abstract way, but whatever) and this seems to make that moot, best I can tell. If that's wrong I'd like to know—I don't get off on going around spreading incorrect info.


The managers of the corporation are not spending their money either, unless they own the corporation.


They're voluntarily authorized by the controlling interest of the people whose money it is.


In many cases the controlling interests are index and pension funds. Members of these funds do not get a say in political donations. Corporations are people spending other people's money with little consequence all the way down.


It is your money being spent, in both cases. Labor is entitled to all it creates.




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