"Service fee" question behind altercation at Maryland Correctional Facility union meeting

No sooner had I finished writing my post earlier this morning about the incident at a March 11th Union meeting of prison guards and an AFSCME representative, comes this story from the Hagerstown Herald Mail.

Seems the conflict began when a guard asked why his pay would be docked beginning in July even if he isn’t part of the union.  See my post which alerts readers to the fact that forced union dues (aka service fee or even funnier: fair share) are about to be taken from all Maryland state workers in the coming fiscal year.

From the Herald Mail ( Correctional officers sign petition to ban union leader from MCTC ):

Correctional officers at the Maryland Correctional Training Center south of Hagerstown have filed a petition asking that a union leader be banned from the prison for allegedly threatening them during a meeting at the facility on March 11.

MCTC Sgt. Charles Wade, a union member, said the petition was sent Wednesday afternoon via certified mail to Patrick Moran, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, in Baltimore.

The petition was signed by 72 correctional officers and staff members who are asking that Steve Berger, AFSCME’s representative at MCTC, be prohibited from entering the prison and that he apologize for comments he allegedly made to the officers that they claimed were berating and threatening.

[.....]

When some of the officers asked why they would have to start paying union dues in July, even though they weren’t members of the union, the petition alleges that Berger said he couldn’t hear the questions and began to swear at the officers.

The Herald Mail reporter, Dan Dearth, goes on to explain “service fees.”

Through a 2009 state law called “The Fair Share Act,” collective bargaining organizations won the right to charge “service fees” for contracts they negotiate, even if employees covered under the contracts don’t belong to the bargaining organizations.

The tentative contract agreement for state employees includes a section labeled “service fee,” which states that employees covered under the contract will be charged a fee that will “not exceed the amount of dues uniformly required of AFSCME members.”

The correctional officers said they have been told the fees will amount to about $400 per year.

Just a reminder to readers that forced union dues are one of the many things Scott Walker stopped in Wisconsin, just as we are about to get them in Maryland.   And, note here that AFSCME is the largest union funder of Democratic Party candidates!   This is why the unions are in such a panic (2012 IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER) and why they need money from MARYLAND TAXPAYERS to get Obama and other Democrats re-elected!

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