Montana Mountains at Dawn, by Xpolf, Licensed under CC

One of the more baffling concepts in America is that state governments, of their own free will, often fund and support the very organizations working to make their jobs harder. It may be comforting for those previously unaware of this fact to know that there’s a logical explanation for it: Democrats.  

Here is a list of things that the state of Montana does for its public unions:  

  • Allows them to collectively bargain: States are under zero obligation to allow public sector unions to negotiate with them. Representatives are supposed to have their constituents in mind when crafting budgets, not bureaucrats. Texas, Arkansas, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina all have some form of prohibition on collective bargaining with one’s own government.  
  • Allows them to strike: Over half the states in America do not allow public employees to strike, for obvious reasons. Montana is not one of these states.  
  • Collects union dues for them: The Montana state government collects union dues from their employees and simply hands the money over. Previously, they were allowed to deduct dues from employees who were not union members, but that flagrant violation of workers’ rights was thankfully revoked, because the supreme court determined it was an obvious violation of free speech. 
  • Pays union employees to not work: under current Montana law, public employees get to use paid time off so they can galivant around on union business. In other words, the government uses taxpayer money to pay unions to lobby the government. Some localities are so brazen that they say the quiet part out loud. The Butte School District grants union officials 30 whole days of paid time off “for lobbying purposes during legislative years” 

Senate Bill 94, if passed, would do away with that last bullet point, ensuring that taxpayer money isn’t going to union activism and indoctrination. While union members can take unpaid leave, or use their own PTO to do so, the bill would end any government financial involvement. It should be patently obvious for anyone with more than a single brain cell that the government shouldn’t be paying union members to lobby them.  

SB-94 is a step against government corruption. The Montana Federation of Public Employees (MFPE) has donated millions over the years, nearly every cent of which goes directly to the same democrats who conveniently support their “right” to do so.  

This isn’t a new story, and it doesn’t just apply to Montana. Time and time again, democrats have drafted bills that monetarily support unions at the expense of their employers, and that money goes right back to them in the form of campaign donations. The fact that said employer is the very government these democrats are supposed to serve is unimportant, and the that these campaign donations are essentially being extracted from taxpayers without their consent is of no apparent concern. 

Thankfully, Montana is taking a stand, and that means that further reform might be on the horizon. It’s time to stop Democrat — union corruption one state at a time.