Do union reps really have your best interests in mind?

Audio captured of leaders at one local AFSCME meeting in Wisconsin suggest no. From POWIP, blogger Kirsten writes:

I recently obtained and listened to a digital recording of this meeting in its entirety. I here share with you sound files pulled directly from it. Anyone wishing to verify the content of these files can contact Sauk County directly to request a copy of the recording. The audio makes it clear that, far from looking out for the best interests of their members, the unions are instead using them quite shamelessly.

Let’s listen first to Sauk County Corporation Counsel Todd Liebman as he tells the board how representatives from AFSCME and SEIU, knowing they were up against Governor Walker’s Budget Adjustment Bill, approached him and gave him carte blanche to write contracts pertaining to the employees they respectively represented. While Liebman doesn’t discuss it here, the WPPA must similarly have sold out its clerical members. [click here for audio]

Next, Mr. Liebman walks the board through changes he subsequently made to all five contracts in question—changes that, with the full assent of the union reps, swung all fiscally related employment matters out of the purview of collective bargaining and squarely into the control of the county. [click here for audio]

According to POWIP, the Sauk County Board of Supervisors ratified five revised contracts, all relinquishing workers' benefits.  Why was the union ok with this deal?  It all comes down to dues...

For the last of the sound files, here’s one of the Sauk County Board supervisors making a fascinating observation in the form of a question to Mr. Liebman. Without realizing it, she points us to the truth.

Can’t you just hear the gears turning in this woman’s head?  “Wait… Hold on… Something’s off here…”  Yes indeed, my dear supervisor!  AFSCME, SEIU, and the WPPA all willingly threw their own members right under the bus in order to make sure they REMAINED members and paid FORCED UNION DUES for another 33 months. It wasn’t about providing certainty to union members at all. Rather, it was about providing certainty to union BOSSES, who couldn’t afford to lose access to automatic extraction of dues from all of those lovely, lovely government employee paychecks.

So, now members of four of the above-mentioned bargaining units are bound by 33-month contracts that amount to sugar-sprinkled crapola. What do they get for a substantial net loss in pay, benefits, and security…? The privilege of continuing to pay union dues, whether they like it or not.

Click here for the complete report.