The woefully misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (better known as the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill) isn’t the only proposed union boss power grab pending in Congress. Big Labor’s high command is always looking for new ways to force more workers into dues-paying ranks — pushing bills from Card Check Forced Unionism to Police and Fire Monopoly Bargaining.
Now, Teamsters union bosses and UPS executives are lobbying Congress to grease the rails for unionization at FedEx, UPS’ chief rival (for background, see this article in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal). Collusion between Teamsters union brass and UPS is nothing new — in fact, independent-minded UPS employees have frequently turned to staff attorneys with the National Right to Work Foundation reporting violations of their rights by both union bosses and the company, including coervice card check campaigns approved by UPS executives.
Many UPS employees who have exercised to refrain from formal union membership have nonetheless been forced to contribute to a "Strike and Defense Fund," which bars benefits to nonmembers. Of course, it was Teamsters union bosses who had no choice but to settle a lawsuit filed by UPS driver Rod Carter, a man union militants severely beat and stabbed for choosing to work during a strike to support his family (union officials also used union funds to bail the assailants out of jail).
With stories like these, it’s little wonder Americans oppose giving union bosses even more government-granted special privileges.