In your Op-Ed, “On Labor Day, Consider the Injustice of Forced Union Dues,” Mark Mix, a political operative from the National Right to Work Foundation, incorrectly states that union members in Ohio are forced to pay union dues. Of course, this is a lie. No union member is ever forced to pay union dues or be a member of union if they choose not to be. But the simple fact is, the vast majority of workers CHOOSE to be union members when they have that option. That’s because being a union member gives us a voice on the job and better wages and benefits than those without a union.
In fact, union employees make an average of 30% more than those without a union. And 92% of union workers have employer-based health care coverage, as opposed to 68% for non-union workers. Those in a union are also more likely to have pensions (as opposed to 401Ks) than their non-union counterparts.
Mix’s organization and others groups like his have made it their mission to break the backs of unions like mine to try to give a leg up to their corporate funders, like the Koch brothers and the Betsy DeVos family. Their cynical motives have nothing to do with the lives (or pocketbooks) of front line workers. Their real motives are to lower our wages, raise the cost of health care, eliminate our pensions and destroy any power we have over our economic lives.
But without unions like mine, Mount Vernon would be a very different place to live. My union job and those of my colleagues help fuel this economy with better wages, better health care and a solid pension. I’ve raised both my children here and sent them both to college thanks to my union job, and I am not alone.
The Mount Vernon Developmental Center where me and my colleagues work is a jewel in the crown of Mount Vernon. One big reason for that is that we have a union—a STRONG union. That fact has afforded us better training, making us some of the best professionals in our field. We are long-term employees who have raised our families here in large part because of better union wages, rights on the job, a secure retirement and affordable health care. And our union has fought tooth and nail to save state developmental centers like ours and those around the state, ensuring families have a choice of congregate care, when that’s appropriate.
Mark Mix is a carpetbagger who knows nothing about our community, knows nothing about what unions have sacrificed and knows nothing about how unions have changed the landscape of this community.
Labor Day is supposed to be a celebration of workers, including the essential union employees in this community who have kept this community going despite the pandemic and despite the risks to their own health and safety. These include city, state and county employees as well as teachers, grocery workers, health care employees and many others who have sacrificed so much to keep the rest of us safe.
I, for one, thank those workers from the bottom of my heart.
Jeana Campolo
OCSEA Chapter President
Mount Vernon Developmental Center
