Following up with 10-year veteran timber trucker Michael Weller was a statement in this article in the Flathead Beacon today that might have mislead some readers:

“As a non-union member in an industry where many of his colleagues join the union, Weller receives the benefits of increased pay when wage agreements are worked out through collective bargaining by the union.”

The Flathead Beacon misses the point. Weller, who works in a forced unionism state, is required to pay for the cost of unwanted monopoly bargaining – despite the fact he doesn’t formally belong to the union in the first place. The article did highlight, however:

“Weller paid the charges out of fear of losing his job…”

All too often, workers in states without Right to Work laws are forced to pay for monopoly bargaining.

When an employee is forced to pay dues to a union in order to get or keep a job, it’s hardly accurate to call that a “benefit.”

Right to Work attorneys helped Montana timber trucker Michael Weller file federal charges against the Teamsters Local 2 after union officials unlawfully ordered him to pay hundreds of dollars in forced dues.

When Weller exercised his rights under Beck, Teamsters union officials responded by illegally threatening to have him fired from his job.

The Daily Inter Lake quoted Weller:

“It’s the principle of the matter. What prompted this was them threatening my job. I’m not real big on people threatening me.”