September 30, 2024
Dear Senators and Members of Congress,
Independent Women’s Voice is the leading national women’s organization dedicated to advancing policies that expand people’s freedom, opportunity, and well-being.
We support the Union Members Right to Know Act, a bill that requires unions to provide members with greater transparency of their rights. If this legislation is passed, labor unions must inform union members of their free speech rights; the right to seek a reasonable accommodation not to pay dues or fees to the union based on religious beliefs or practices; and the right to object to paying union dues related to nonrepresentational activity.
Under this bill, unions will have to provide summaries of these rights and laws to each new member after joining and annually to all members and make the summaries available on their websites. Like any professional organization representing the occupational interests of workers, it is reasonable to expect unions to provide their members with such critical information and we wonder why they don’t already do so.
Transparency empowers union members to make the best decisions for themselves. No union member should be forced to support causes he or she finds objectionable based on his/her faith or beliefs. Nor should a member be forced to bankroll candidates and issues that she disagrees with under the false guise of advancing collective bargaining.
Unions use ignorance among their rank-and-file as a tool to enforce their wills. The Union Members Right to Know Act delivers the light of transparency to union members intentionally being left in the dark. We strongly urge all members of Congress to pass this bill.
Respectfully,
Patrice Onwuka
Director, Center for Economic Opportunity
Independent Women’s Voice