NFIB Pa. Exec. State Director Kevin Shivers to House State Government Committee
NFIB Pa. Exec. State Director Kevin Shivers to House State Government Committee
Dear Representatives:
On
behalf of the 15,000 small business members of the National Federation of
Independent Business (NFIB), I am writing to express our members’ support for House
Bill 1507, sponsored by state Rep. Bryan Cutler.
This
legislation seeks to eliminate the practice of public employers and
representative unions to negotiate clauses in collective bargaining agreements
which requires the deduction of union dues or political contributions from
paychecks.
NFIB
members, like the majority of Pennsylvanians, have long opposed state resources
being used for political purposes. Since some of the money collected is used
for political or electioneering purposes we do not believe that public
employers should be in the business of collecting these fees. The Cutler
legislation won’t impact the ability of workers to join or be represented by
public sector unions. It simply takes
the public employer out of the process to collect union dues or fees used for
political or electioneering purposes.
It’s
estimated that nearly $5 million spent on political activity was collected by
the taxpayers from public sector workers – through the various government
entities which they were employed. NFIB believes workers should be free to make their own
decisions about the organizations and political activities to which they give
their money – it’s the American way. But
it is not the responsibility of taxpayers to be involved in political or
electioneering activity.
Thank you in advance for your consideration of the
views of small business. We urge you to vote in favor of the reforms contained
in House Bill 1507.
Sincerely,
Kevin Shivers
Executive State Director
