Negotiate own wages

Regarding “Supreme Court may nix mandatory union dues (Jan. 12)”: Here we go again. “I want the pay and benefits you negotiated, I just don’t want to pay for it.”

It makes me wonder what kind of person would take something they haven’t earned. Oh yes, that kind of person. This attitude that you are entitled to benefits you haven’t paid for is not new. We see it everywhere, every day, in many ways. We used to call such a person a “freeloader.” I call them anti-union.

I was a member of the Spokane Fire Fighters Union for 40 years. They took the time and effort to evaluate and dissect their union dues. If you chose to pay only for what was spent on negotiations, you could do that. In my 40-year career, they had one member who chose this option.

I get that some people are raised to be anti-union. If your parents are anti-union, you are probably anti-union. My thought is that if you don’t pay for benefits, you shouldn’t get those benefits.

My plan: Don’t make them join the union. But then they would have to negotiate their own wages and benefits. Now, that would be fair.

Doug Bacon

Spokane