IKEA exploits the American Worker, is racist

[Barrister]

Well in comparison, now working with the Alberta government we have an "association" (not a union because they do not collectively bargain) and its dues are $100 for the year, which I will most likely pay.

But I'm not kidding that dues to my old union (which was a union, because theoretically they do collectively bargain - when the government doesn't just legislate our wages) was on the order of $1000.

[The Brain]

How does that work?

How can an organisation you are not a member of charge you membership dues? How is it enforced?

In Canada it is all summed up as the "Rand formula".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rand_formula

It is enforced as an employer's deduction from pay.

Wow, that's fucked up. And I think unions are a good thing by-and-large. At least when they aren't monomplies in an essential  monopoly service like London's tube.

Maybe I'm just cynical, but how can a union survive if it is not coercive?  If I have the option of NOT paying a thousand dollars or more in union dues every year, why would I ever choose to pay it voluntarily?

By providing services you desire? Remember, there's one born every minute.

[MadImmortalMan]

That's why contracts negotiated by the union should only be binding on union members. Let the opt-outers negotiate their own salary and benefits.

[Ideologue]

Why not?

Because a free market relies on having a large number of buyers and a large number of sellers bidding against each other.  Unions replace the large number of sellers with just one.  That's a monopsony, a price setter not a price taker.

That's the reason I'm for an open shop.  But as MIM sez, naturally crypto-scabs shouldn't be third-party beneficiaries of something they don't contribute to (or, perhaps, should be made to make restitution if they opt to take advantage of a union-negotiated contract).