[vkou]

That would be the Exclusive Representation rule.

https://www.flra.gov/exclusive_representation

The tl;dr of it is that if 50% + 1 of a workforce unionizes, the union bargains collectively for everyone. Even for free-loaders who don't pay union dues.

This is like being able to opt out of paying taxes, while still receiving all government benefits. If that were legal, then our public services would collapse by next week.

[chimeracoder]

> The tl;dr of it is that if 50% + 1 of a workforce unionizes, the union bargains collectively for everyone. Even for free-loaders who don't pay union dues.

There are no freeloaders. The union defines the bargaining unit, and they can choose to define it to include only members. They typically don't choose to do this, because they prefer to make the bargaining unit as large as possible, and they are legally allowed to collect fees from non-members in the bargaining unit.

This is a quirk of US labor law; most other countries don't permit unions to do this.

[vkou]

Right-to-work laws prevent them from collecting fees from non-members.

That's the whole problem. Exclusive representation is fine. Right to work is fine. The two together destroy unions.

[chimeracoder]

> Right-to-work laws prevent them from collecting fees from non-members. That's the whole problem. Exclusive representation is fine. Right to work is fine. The two together destroy unions.

That's a weird conclusion, given that in, most other countries that are considered to have strong unions, unions actually don't have the authority to collect fees from all non-members in a bargaining unit.