A proposition in the upcoming special election has the potential
to significantly impact the unionized political action of thousands
of UC employees.
Proposition 75 seeks to prohibit the use by public employee
labor organizations of dues or fees for political contributions,
except with the prior consent of those individual employees each
year on a specified written form.
The proposition excludes contributions dealing directly with
employee benefits or donations to charities, and requires unions to
maintain and, upon request, submit information about members’
political contributions to the Fair Political Practices
Commission.
The proposition defends public workers who “deserve to
know how their money is going to be spent with regard to
politics,” said Eric Beach, communications director for the
Yes on 75 campaign.
The measure is necessary because union leaders are out of touch
with their members, and employees are “sick and tired of
money being extracted from their paychecks,” Beach said.
“People are wanting to fix a broken system,” he
said.
But several unions believe the requirements that would be
enforced by passage of the measure are unacceptable, holding unions
to different standards of political spending than corporations or
special interest groups and creating unnecessary delay in their
ability to lobby for issues such as higher wages.
Two workers unions with members within the UC system, the United
Auto Workers 2865 and University Professional and Technical
Employees
-Communication Workers of America 9119, are staunch in their
opposition to the measure.
“Our union is firmly against the proposition,” said
Scott Bailey, the statewide president of the UAW 2865, which acts
for 12,000 academic student employees in the UC system, including
teachers’ aides, readers and tutors.
“The proposition is designed to be insurmountable,
incredibly time-consuming and a difficult thing for unions to
accomplish,” Bailey said.
The proposition frames unions as battlefields between
democratically-elected union leaders and their membership, when
that is not the case, he said.
“It’s a battle between businesses and corporate
interests that are trying to silence the voice of labor in the
state,” Bailey said.
Similarly, UPTE-CWA 9119 is supporting a vote of no on
proposition 75, said Rita Kern, president of UPTE at UCLA. The
union has 10,000 members within the UC system.
The requirement of getting consent forms from all members before
taking political action would be unnecessary and time-consuming,
Kern said.
“It would slow us down quite a bit, and it’s unfair
… it would disempower us,” Kern said.
Besides being unfair, Bailey believes the proposition would
create an incredibly time-intensive and expensive process since a
union would be required to have each member sign a consent form
every year.
Bailey said the proposition is outrageous, since UAW 2865 is a
member-run, democratic union and all members have equal
opportunity.
Passage of the proposition would jeopardize the UAW 2865’s
ability to lobby against issues such as fee hikes, Bailey said.
That ability to lobby is key to the success of unions, said John
Travis, professor of political science at Humboldt State University
and president of the California Faculty Association.
“Unions started in this country to represent, to bring the
voices together of people who share a working experience. …
Proposition 75 would limit the ability of public employee unions to
represent the opinions of their membership,” Travis said.
Beach disagreed.
“Proposition 75 is a workers’ rights issue,”
he said.
The measure will prevent union leaders from misusing funds,
Beach said.
“This has nothing to do with their bargaining and lobbying
efforts,” Beach said.
With reports from Sara Taylor, Bruin senior staff.