Letter to the Editor
The Republican
From former State Sen. Clifford Friend
(Sept. 3, 1970)
A few weeks ago I stated that the Union has nothing to offer our road workers and our citizens except more domination, more threats, more strikes, and more injustice.
There are many good reasons why the above statement is true: If our County Commissioners were to recognize the Union as the sole bargaining agent for and on behalf of the former road workers, the Commissioners would also have to agree to the “Check Off” clause under which the County would agree to deduct membership dues from each employee and send the money to the Union. I am told that the Union has served notice that they will agree to nothing else.
Under such an agreement the fourteen loyal men who have opposed the strike and refused to sign up with the Union would have to be fired. It is not likely that the Union would agree to a clause which would permit them to work without joining the Union. Every employer knows that fourteen loyal workers can be of more permanent value to the county than one hundred of the opposite kind. The county could not afford to punish the just, and reward the unjust, yet this would be apt to happen unless a special clause could be written into the contract.
All new employees desiring to accept work on the roads would also be required to accept the deductions for dues from wages earned, which money would be sent to the Union. Also, it has been the practice of Unions to require hefty initiation dues from new employees.
The union would claim the right to lay down work rules for the men. Thus, the County would lose the right which the law gives to our county Commissioners to establish rules and conditions deemed necessary for sound public policy and effective administration.
Once the Union is designated as a bargaining unit for the men the Union officers could call strikes because some worthless fellow had been demoted or fired. The Union would be able to call the men out on sympathy strikes with other workers here or elsewhere. This too, is common union practice. The Union would claim the right to levy special assessments upon the men to raise money for strikers in this county or other places, just as they are now raising money elsewhere to buy the favor of the so called strikers here in our midst. The Union could levy fines against any of our men for breach of union rules, or for performing work which union officers have decreed should be performed by other men, or by other crews. Or for crossing a picket line or refusing to serve on a picket line.
When our roads workers had their own organization they could control the money they paid in dues and direct how it should be spent. But now they would lose control, and the money they would pay in dues, special assessments, and fines could be spent by outsiders and for purposes to which many of the members might object.
The Wagner Labor Relations Law, and the Taft Hartley Act, which affords some protection to workers against arbitrary and abusive labor practices do not apply here and Union officers can do almost anything. They can practice favoritism, they can demand that a worker be fired for anti-union talk, or for criticism of labor officers or labor rules, and they can enforce their demands and make it stick. Without the protection of federal labor laws men can become mere chattels under Union domination.
It is difficult to understand why sensible men would , of their own free will want to trade away their precious liberty to put on the yoke of chattel slaves, unless they have, indeed, been sold a false bill of goods. It is just as difficult to understand why County Commissioner Paugh would lend his support to a scheme that could enslave his fellow citizens, workers and taxpayers by getting us entangled with a ruthless organization over which we could expect to have no control but which could provide the Union with an opportunity to dominate our County and lay a heavy burden upon our citizens.
It is just as difficult to understand why we would bring unfavorable publicity to the county.
The coming Primary Election will provide our Republican voters with an opportunity to let Commissioner Paugh know that they do not approve of his efforts on behalf of the Union. Luckily, we do have a chance to choose between Paugh and his opponent, William Fitzwater. It should be an easy choice.
–Clifford Friend, Accident, Md.