More Union Dues spent on Politics

The Union Label blog writes on how AFSCME (the union for government workers) is using union dues to attack candidates for office (see USA Today story as well). The union is skirting the law (which is intended to prevent mandatory dues being used in politics), by "donating" the money to other groups that actually run the ads.

In non-right-to-work states like Pennsylvania, employees can be forced to pay union dues as a condition of employment (as many state and local government workers are), only to see these dues used to help candidates they may not like.

Union employees can cut off the portion of their dues used for politics (though how much this portion is oft disputed) - more details here.