Demand more from CT public sector union officials

Originally published at the Hartford Courant

In Connecticut, getting a job in state government comes with strings attached.

As soon as you’re hired, the state sends your contact information, including your home address, to a union you’ve never joined and to union officials you’ve never met. The union also has the right to meet with you for at least 30 minutes, even one-on-one, to ensure you join and start paying dues. After that, every three months, union officials can get your updated personal phone numbers and email address from the state agency where you work, regardless of whether you become a union member.

If you can withstand union officials’ high-pressure marketing pitch, you may face coercion once on the job. For example, union officials systematically targeted two state workers represented by the Fairness Center, a nonprofit public interest law firm, calling them “free loaders” for not joining the union. Another public sector union in Connecticut maintains a “Wall of Shame,” where union officials post the names of employees who refuse to join the union, calling them “selfish” and threatening “fines or disciplinary measures.”

Read more at the Hartford Courant