Public sector union members have moved toward gaining greater control of their earnings, as the Senate passed momentous legislation Wednesday, sponsored by Senator John H. Eichelberger, Jr. (R-Blair).
Senate Bill 166 would guarantee an end to the payroll deduction of political contributions from government employees.
“Using taxpayer-funded government resources for political activity is illegal in most instances, but somehow, this practice has been permitted to continue,” said Senator Eichelberger. “For far too long, members have been forced to provide money to political candidates or causes they don’t support. Polling data shows paycheck protection is what the majority of union members want and what the public deserves.”
The law would only apply to public sector union contracts that currently benefit from this taxpayer-funded legal and financial privilege. To be clear, the legislation still allows public sector unions to continue to collect membership dues from union members and deduct the “Fair Share” amount from nonmembers which is used strictly for collective bargaining purposes, grievances, and arbitrations. In addition, unions can continue to spend political money, it just cannot be collected from employee paychecks by the government. Political contributions and other political funds must be collected from individuals directly by the organization seeking the funds, just as every other political organization must do.
The Paycheck Protection bill now goes to the House of Representatives for consideration.
