Good Government

Pay up or pack up

July 17, 2018

David Autry

If you don’t like a product, you don’t have to buy it. If you don’t like a restaurant, you don’t have to patronize it. And, if you don’t like a politician, you don’t have to vote for him or her—let alone finance his or her politics.

To most, the statements above are common sense. The freedom to choose who and what you support is a basic American idea. 

But for decades, some unions have made their living by forcing workers to pay for union politics—regardless of whether or not a worker supported said politics. Worst of all, this has happened within government, where workers were told: pay up to the union or get fired.

In the latest video by PragerU, below, Akash Chougule with Americans for Prosperity explains the realities (and history) of public-sector labor union politics. Thankfully, after the Supreme Court’s Janus decision, government workers are now protected from being forced to pay for other people’s politics.