On Sept. 2, the day before Labor Day, the News Tribune published a "National View" column, headlined, "On Labor Day, consider injustice of forced union dues." The writer, Mark Mix, is president of the National Right to Work Committee, which would like to let non-dues-paying people work under union rules and pay scales without contributing to the union.
Mix missed a few other injustices in our society he should have noted, things like paying for road maintenance when you do not own a car, paying for a school when you have no children, paying for Medicare for the aged even though you may not reach that age, paying for medical insurance when you are young and strong, paying for car insurance when you have a excellent driving record, paying Social Security taxes when you may never collect, paying for a war through taxes that you may not support, paying for parks you will never visit, and paying for benefits you may never receive.
Yet Mix supports allowing workers to enjoy the wages and benefits the union negotiates without paying their fair share of the union's costs. That's injustice.
I may not agree with all of the programs my union, or my government, provides, but I will pay my fair share to both.
Bryce Makela
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Duluth
