Republicans blast Holden over union fees

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- House Republicans criticized Gov. Bob Holden on Tuesday for opening the door to unions who are seeking fees from state employees who are not union members.

So-called "fair share" fees are something Republicans said they have been warning against since Holden signed an executive order a year ago authorizing collective bargaining for some state employees.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents about 4,800 state employees providing patient care in mental health facilities and veterans' homes, is seeking fees that would be deducted from the paychecks of non-union employees to cover the cost of collective bargaining.

Two bargaining units of the Service Employees International Union also are seeking such fees as part of their contract negotiations, which began several months ago but have not yet concluded.

"As expected, Gov. Holden's collective bargaining executive order is resulting in all but forced unionization of state employees by putting a lug on paychecks," said House Minority Leader Catherine Hanaway, R-Warson Woods. "This governor, who has repeatedly refused state employees a pay raise, may now make them pay union dues out of their paychecks whether they want to join a union or not."

Holden spokeswoman Chris Kelly said the governor was aware a year ago of the potential impact of his order and was not concerned about the recent Republican criticism.

"We knew this was going to happen, it's exactly what is involved in collective bargaining," Kelly said. "The governor supports a conversation about fair share fees, absolutely."

Kelly said that, in general, the fees are appropriate because even those who choose not to join a union receive benefits from the union's negotiating work.

Unions can only collect the fees for their representation services, not for the political or lobbying expenses.

Republicans in the House and Senate both backed legislation during the recently completed session that would have prevented the fees from being charged to non-union workers. The legislation failed to come to a vote.

"Now we know that these bills were truly needed, yet the Democratically controlled House refused to grant committee hearings on either bill," said Rep. Danie More, R-Fulton.

Senate Republicans held hearings last year on Holden's action but the committee has yet to issue a report. Democratic members of the committee did not participate in the hearings.

Union officials have said that in other states where such fees are allowed, the vast majority of the bargaining unit's members already belong to the union, so the fees are charged to a minimal number of workers.

But in Missouri, a lower percentage of state employees belong to unions. About 50 percent of the 1,250 people represented in SEIU's probation and parole unit have signed union membership cards. Of the roughly 4,800 mental health and veterans' home employees represented by AFSCME, about 45 percent belong to the union.

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On the Net:

Gov. Bob Holden: http://www.gov.state.mo.us

AFSCME: http://www.afscme.org/missouri

SEIU: http://www.seiu.org