Demand more from Connecticut public sector union officials
In Connecticut, getting a job in state government comes with strings attached.
As soon as you’re hired, the state sends your contact information, including your home address, to a union you’ve never joined and to union officials you’ve never met. The union also has the right to meet with you for at least 30 minutes, even one-on-one, to ensure you join and start paying dues. After that, every three months, union officials can get your updated personal phone numbers and email address from the state agency where you work, regardless of whether you become a union member.
If you can withstand union officials’ high-pressure marketing pitch, you may face coercion once on the job. For example, union officials systematically targeted two state workers represented by the Fairness Center, a nonprofit public interest law firm, calling them “free loaders” for not joining the union. Another public sector union in Connecticut maintains a “Wall of Shame,” where union officials post the names of employees who refuse to join the union, calling them “selfish” and threatening “fines or disciplinary measures.”
It’s relentless.
The ability to exert this kind of pressure on new employees helps public sector union officials get so much money, power and influence in Connecticut. According to a recent Commonwealth Foundation report, Connecticut tops the list in at least two measurements of public sector union presence in state government. Based on its unionization rate (the number of unionized state employee workplaces) and union density (the overall share of union members in state government), Connecticut beats every other state with measurable statistics.
And, unfortunately for Connecticut, the race isn’t close. Over 86 percent of all state employees in Connecticut are union members. New York comes in second, with 78 percent. But there’s a precipitous drop after that, with the next state, Alaska, at 54 percent.
This strong union presence may seem beneficial to government workers, but the downward pressure from union officials doesn’t often translate into better employment conditions. For example, earlier this year, the state’s largest teacher union released a survey of Connecticut teachers showing that just 4 percent of respondents were “very satisfied” with their jobs, with 32 percent “somewhat satisfied.” A whopping 64 percent said they were either “somewhat” or “very dissatisfied.”
What, exactly, has the union been doing these past 50 years?
Perhaps that’s why employees tend to make other choices, like declining to join the union altogether, in states that protect workers from union officials’ undue influence. For example, in Florida, the union membership rate for state employees is about 16 percent. Florida has worker-friendly measures that require union officials to advise new employees of their rights before they join, including the right not to join.
Florida is onto something. States shouldn’t help public sector unions attract or retain employees who —let’s face it —aren’t getting enough out of their union membership.
It’s not worth propping up a system if it’s not serving workers. What workers face in Connecticut (and to lesser extent in Pennsylvania) prove that such a system will only help certain union officials and unionfriendly legislators while the rank-and-file waits for a turn that never comes.
Meanwhile, unionization has yet to become a lucrative endeavor in states like Virginia and Colorado, where public sector unions have only recently secured legal status. Policymakers may tilt the playing field in favor of union officials and deprive workers of their rights. The future of public sector unions in these and other states depends entirely on whether union organizers can first co-opt the government itself.
As for Connecticut, it’s not too late to demand more from public sector union officials. At the very least, the state should share truthful, objective information with state employees, such as their constitutional right to join — or not join — a union. Moreover, states must ensure unions focus on gaining members by providing valuable services and demonstrating value at the bargaining table. Our civil servants deserve more.