Okay I’m overstating it, since lying is endemic in pushing the union narrative but there is one major lie that union leaders and organizers like to propagate when states are pushing to become Right to Work States. In Right to Work states employees are free to join (and pay dues) or not join a union that represents their work place. The union’s main argument against this is that when people chose not to join a union, the union is still required to represent them in contract negotiations and this is simply not true. The fact is that unions do generally agree to cover non-union members but in most cases they do this in a large part to continue their myth.
This goes back to 1947 and the Taft-Hartley Act where they made “closed shops” illegal.
Last weekend many Indiana newspapers ran an op-ed from Stephen Quick Sr. who’s bio reads that he “is an International vice president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees central district and a 32-year employee of the Indianapolis Department of Public Works.” The piece is titled “Labor is growing despite roadblocks.” Containing all the “data” about how unions are advantageous to the workers. You can read the full post here:
The post contained this line: “In 2012, a so-called “right-to-work” law was enacted to cripple unions by forcing them to represent workers who refuse to pay for representation.” In fact Indiana’s Right to Work law was challenged by the AFL-CIO and other unions on this very issue. On September 5, 2013, Lake County Superior Court Judge John M. Sedia agreed with the unions and declared that Indiana’s Right to Work law was unconstitutional. On appeal, in November 2014, a unanimous Indiana Supreme Court threw out the Lake County judge’s ruling stating that:
The Union’s federal obligation to represent all employees in a bargaining unit is optional; it occurs only when the union elects to be the exclusive bargaining agent, for which it is justly compensated by the right to bargain exclusively with the employer.
The United State 7th Circuit Court has also ruled that Indiana’s Right to Work law meets Constitutional guidelines.
In response to the newspapers running of the pro-union propaganda piece I sent in this reply to the paper:
On February 14 the Tribune ran a pro-union propaganda viewpoint piece titled “Labor is growing despite roadblocks” from “Steven Quick Sr. is an International vice president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees central district and a 32-year employee of the Indianapolis Department of Public Works.”
This piece contained the biggest union myth of all, namely that “a so-called “right-to-work” law was enacted to cripple unions by forcing them to represent workers who refuse to pay for representation.” When, in fact, unions are not required to represent non-union members. Last November the Indiana Supreme Court threw out a challenge to the Right to Work law based solely on this very issue stating that “The Union’s federal obligation to represent all employees in a bargaining unit is optional; it occurs only when the union elects to be the exclusive bargaining agent, for which it is justly compensated by the right to bargain exclusively with the employer.”
This leads to the final question for Mr. Quick, if unions are so good for the workers why must they force employees to join if they don’t feel a Union serves their best interest?
markE watkins 
I worked in a Right to Work state. Unfortunately, the company, a company with happy employees, was considered interstate so subject to closed shop. If the union members voted for it. Non-union members had no vote, no voice. We went closed shop. Yes, I was given a raise. It kicked me into a higher tax bracket and the union dues stole, yes, I said, ‘stole’, the difference. I was paid more but took home less. Employees who should have been fired were protected by the union. So those of us who did our jobs also had to do their job, while they were paid for it. The dues were used for a speed boat and for political influence with which I disagreed, among other things. What I learned in my brush with unions: Unions complain about big business; pot meet kettle.
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