Iowa Fair Share Bill likely to resurface

Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal is making it clear he thinks it’s likely the State Legislature will reconsider the “Fair Share” bill they passed last year, which then failed in the House of Representatives. This bill was designed to collect fees from those working in “union shops” who were not members of the union, on the premise that the Union’s work benefits all and therefore all should pay their “fair share” to support the union. Iowa, however, is a right-to-work state which means a person has a right to work in a union shop and not be a member of the union.

Here is a corollary example of how Fair Share might play out: I work for a membership organization whose work affects the entire community. It’s not a stretch to argue that every resident and every business in our area benefits from the work we do. Our members support our work through their memberships because they believe in the work and they seek the opportunities we create for them to connect with each other. Some, however, choose not to be members. We could, therefore, conceivably seek to pass local regulations stating that every resident and every business owner in our region has benefitted from our work and should therefore pay us a user’s fee.

I’d be very curious to see how many union leaders (and people in general) would scream bloody murder about having to pay that fee, when they have chosen not to be members of our organization.

It is undeniable that unions did much in the early days of industrialization to improve working conditions, raise wages, and give workers a collective voice. But today, the fact that unions are seeking the right to collect “user fees” from non-members speaks volumes about their waning strength and influence: because they are apparently unable to make a strong enough case for membership, they are seeking a legislative mandate to allow them to collect funding from people who have purposely exercised their right NOT to fund them.

 Doesn’t seem all that “fair” to me.