California Progressives Fight Desperately Against 'Paycheck Protection' Initiative, Proposition 32

I was forwarded an email from Mike Myslinski, who is the public relations director at the California Teachers Association:

From: "Myslinski, Mike"
Date: July 14, 2012 10:57:47 AM PDT
To: CTA XXX XXXX XXXXX

Comrades:

I posted this blog on the CTA Facebook page this morning. Steve Smith of California Labor Federation and Brian Brokaw of the No on 32 campaign are quoted...

http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/07/12/the-war-on-workers-comes-to-california-in-disguise/

Mike Myslinski

CTA Communications

You gotta love the "comrades" salutation, for one thing, which is how Communist Party members greet each other. And then note how the state's far-left teachers union goes to radical left-wing blogs for talking points. The link goes to David Dayen at Firedoglake, "The War On Workers Comes to California, in Disguise." It's actually a good discussion of the initiative, with all the left-wing spin naturally, but this part is key:

Unions can ask their members to voluntarily donate to political causes, say the backers of Prop 32. But the initiative contains an additional measure that requires an annual written authorization from each union member on even voluntary contributions. Unions typically have an automatic process to collect dues and use them in part for political ends. Now they would have to go through a time- and resource-consuming process of collecting all dues individually, getting written authorization for how the dues can be used, in such a way that would be logistically impossible.

The fact is, my union doesn't notify employees about opting out of union political activities. You can do that, if you learn your rights, but you have to go to the union reps to fill out special paperwork, and even then, just 20 percent or so is prohibited from political activities, when in fact much more of what unions do, as a ratio of their activities, is interest group political lobbying and campaigns. In fact, CTA is THE BIGGEST political contributor in California politics, although it ends up funding Democrat political issues and candidates exclusively, which then misrepresents the political interests of the members who are conservative or Republican. You're basically screwed as a CTA member. So that's why the paycheck provisions of Prop. 32 are especially attractive. See Labor Pains for a discussion of this issue nationally, "UNIONS DISREGARD MEMBERS’ POLITICAL PREFERENCES."

The Dayen piece above cribs a bunch of those quotes right from the left's anti-Prop. 32 talking points. The CTA has not one but two websites to oppose the measure, the CTA's page, "No on 32: Stop Special Exemptions," and "Stop the Special Exemptions Act." And here's their marquee ad:

Unions are the "schoolhouses of socialism."

The conservative public sector reforms are crucially necessary to break these f-kers and drive 'em six-feet under.

See Ballotpedia for more, "California Proposition 32."