…unions have lost their usefulness and now are anathema to free markets and to freedom generally.

A December memo from Michigan Education Association President Steven Cook to his local union officials, that the West Michigan Policy Forum got hold of, lays out a series of steps for unions to mitigate Michigan’s just-passed the right-to-work law.  For instance:

Members who indicate they wish to resign membership in March [Michigan’s RTW law takes effect 1 March], or whenever, will be told they can only do so in August.  We will use any legal means at our disposal to collect the dues owed under signed membership forms from any members who withhold dues prior to terminating their membership in August for the following fiscal year.

Workers can’t resign from the union when they want to, even though they can resign from their jobs at will.  And they’ll be haled into court for exercising their right under the new law not to pay the union’s vig.

And

We’ve looked carefully at this and believe the impact of RTW can be blunted through bargaining strategies[.]

The union will bargain—in their members’ name, yet—for contracts that trap their members into paying the vig, even though RTW says they don’t have to.  Which lines up well with the union leadership insisting that members can’t leave at convenience.

Hmm….