Free Market Group Calls for California, 4 Other States to Suspend Government Union Dues

 
 

If elected officials were to suspend the deduction of union dues from the paychecks of public-sector employees for three months, they could pump tens of millions of dollars back into the wallets of workers who are compelled to stay home, according to a free market think tank’s analysis of government records.

The savings would be particularly dramatic in California, which has more than 1.25 million public employees, the Freedom Foundation explained in a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat.

The letter notes that California’s public employees pay an average of $800 a year in dues.

A three-month moratorium on deduction of government union dues “would pump $250 million back into the pockets of workers who earned them and need them during this emergency,” Bob Wickers, California director for the Freedom Foundation, said in the letter to Newsom.

“The best part is you could boost our state’s economy by nearly $250 million without costing California taxpayers a dime,” he wrote.

The Freedom Foundation also sent letters to Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, asking them to consider the three-month moratorium on deducting union dues. DeWine …read more