2005 PRESS RELEASES

December 19, 2005

Union is viewed negatively by state workers
According to poll, 69 percent of respondents only joined union because it was required to keep their job.

OLYMPIA—The Evergreen Freedom Foundation’s Labor Policy Center recently surveyed state workers, asking for their opinions on unionization. Over 1,700 respondents participated in this informal poll.

The survey revealed several startling facts.

The number one reason state workers joined the union was to keep their jobs (69 percent of respondents). This is even more likely to be the case, given that state employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements that require state workers to pay union dues as a condition of employment. In early November, unions gave the state a list of almost 800 state workers who had not joined. State agencies then notified employees termination proceedings would begin December 12 if they did not pay dues.

Five months since implementation of the new employment contract, state workers still view the union negatively. Eighty-one percent do not believe their union represents them effectively in their workplace. This also holds true regarding union political involvement. Eighty-four percent do not believe their union represents them effectively in political activities.

The poll indicated a reason for this dissatisfaction: Fifty-nine percent of state workers indicate the union “ignores” and even “intimidates/harasses” them for suggesting ways to improve its representation. Because state workers believe their union is not receptive to member input, 88 percent rarely or never participate in union activities.

Ninety percent of state workers also believe employees should have a choice whether to pay dues or not.

“This poll paints a vastly different picture than the one unions have given the public,” said Ryan Bedford, a labor policy analyst for EFF. “The state and unions have forced public employees to pay for representation against their will. If the unions truly offered a valuable service, they wouldn’t have to build membership with the threat of termination.”

“When given the opportunity to voice their true opinions without fear of harassment, state workers overwhelmingly agree the union does not serve their best interest,” said Bedford.

Poll results:
http://www.effwa.org/main/thankyou.php?id=62

Sample termination Letter:
http://www.effwa.org/pdfs/terminationletter.pdf

Methodology:
The Evergreen Freedom Foundation sent a link to the online poll to more than 20,000 state workers on Friday, December 9, 2005 at 11:30 AM PST. The poll remained active until noon PST on Monday, December 12, 2005. Answers were received and tabulated using the Poll Vault web polling software. The results indicate the opinions of state workers who chose to respond.

+ Send EFF your comments

  Send this Article to a Friend