Governor Dayton’s Baleful Influence on Labor Relations
By Steven Malanga/The Washington Examiner
Even rank-and-file members are getting fed up with their unions’ political spending. So last spring, as part of a package of controversial union reforms, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker gave government workers the right to opt out of paying union dues.
Reformers have tried to encourage that right elsewhere, claiming that many union members aren’t happy with how their dues get spent — and that claim is bolstered by a recent poll. Taken over the summer by Harris Interactive, the poll found that 62 percent of Americans, and a remarkable 47 percent of respondents from union households, believe that union members don’t get their dues’ worth from their unions.
One reason, clearly, for the dissatisfaction is the unions’ expensive investment in political campaigns. In the Harris poll, 60 percent of those in union households said that labor groups were too involved in politics; 72 percent of all Americans agreed.
