Re: [Marxism] MTA threatens to eliminate check-off

[Jon Flanders <jonflanders@xxxxxxxxx>]

Excellent points Marvin. It seems that the MTA and the Pataki
administration plan to pull out all the stops in the anti-labor law pipe
organ. One can only wonder if they planned for an outcome like this all
along.

The question is, will they over-reach and galvanize the rest of labor in
NYC?
Asking the transit workers to pay for some of their health care will not
be regarded by working class public opinion as too much to ask,
unfortunately.

But millions in fines, loss of dues check-off, jailing leaders, firing
militants, one of these might peg the meter.

I would also point out that to my knowledge, French unions don't have
closed shops or check-offs, and have carried out some of the most
militant strikes anywhere.

Jon Flanders


On Sat, 2006-01-28 at 17:38 -0500, Marvin Gandall wrote:
> To add to what has already been said and perhaps place this issue more in
> context, the dues check off is not simply a matter of administrative
> convenience or the lack of it. Having the stewards go round to collect dues
> would would make terrific sense, even in large enterprises, because  it
> would allow them to regularly pass on information, hear complaints and
> grievances, take the pulse of the members, and make the union seem less
> remote to the members. So Bob Montgomery is right on this count.
>
> But, alas, I can't imagine Farrell Dobbs or any of the other pioneering
> industrial unionists would have proposed that unions be responsible for
> collecting their own dues without tying it to the "closed" or "union" shop,
> which is what they were aiming at. As everyone knows, this makes employment
> conditional on membership in the union. In the circumstances of a union
> shop, you don't have the problem of free riders because even the most rabid
> anti-union types don't have any choice in the matter;  no union card, no
> work. No payment of dues, no union card.



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