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I once knew a tough, old West Virginia bird, long passed, by the name of Walt. He was fond of using the term “Whats gonna shock yuh!” Walt was referring to any story or fact that was sure to jar your senses. This is my contribution to the legacy of Walt. I’m going to tell you a story and throw in some facts “Whats gonna shock yuh!”

It goes without saying that the propaganda machine of the right has poisoned the image of unions to such an extent that union membership has nose-dived over the last few decades. Since the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) starting compiling membership figures in 1983, the total number of workers belonging to unions has almost been cut in half from 20.1% 20 years ago to 11.3% in the last full statistical year of 2012. Even that number is a little misleading as 31 states are below that average. Also highly misleading is the fact that in the private sector, a miniscule 6.6% of workers are union members. Public-sector employees represent 35.9% of union membership. North Carolina has the lowest membership rate of 2.9% following by Arkansas with 3.2% and South Carolina at 3.3%.

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The feigned fury of the highly compensated national talking heads like Limbaugh and O’Reilly continues unabated on the subject of unions. The leaders are all crooks they cry! Of course you generally don’t have to arrest said leaders for 2000 OxyContin painkillers received over a period of 6 months or pay off an aggrieved O’Reilly fellow worker for his habit of flooding her with perverted phone calls. See more Limbaugh details from a CBS report here.

Yes, there are, in fact, union crooks. And in some venues, unions run the show essentially using their power to delay projects until their demands are met and that needs to be addressed. Some union heads even deservedly get arrested and jailed. If they had Limbaugh’s pull, just a rehab promise would pull them out of legal quicksand. You go out and fraudulently obtain a highly addictive painkiller and see how many years you spend in the joint. I dare say the degree of law breaking by the housing bubble mortgage lenders probably outstripped their union brethren by a factor of a thousand (at least).

I doubt there is any more mischief among union leaders than, say, preachers. The IRS has long been curious about the sumptuous lives and material excesses of the likes of Benny Hinn, Kenneth Copeland, Joyce Meyer, Creflo Dollar, Eddie Long and Randy and Paula White among others. And who can ever forget that horndog weeper, Jimmy Swaggart? They even had to send Jim Bakker to the slammer for fraudulently selling time shares of all things. The versatile Bakker was also ‘slamming’ his church secretary Jessica Hahn about the same time.

Another favorite attack point is dues. Outrageous of course. To the corporate-controlled Tea Party crowd, everything to do with unions is outrageous. Let’s see what you get for those dues, actually pretty modest considering BLS also reports that union members are paid median usual weekly earnings of $943 compared to $742 for non-union, low-information sycophants who vote for their companies’ non-union stance. So union-bashing is worth over ten grand a year, eh? If you’re curious that’s $49,036 vs. $38,584 per year or $10,452 big ones; well over a hundred grand a decade. I’m sure your spouse appreciates your union-hating dedication to the billionaire multi-national cause. There’s also the matter of having someone in your corner when your employer wrongs you. That extra perk is not to be dismissed lightly.

Let’s look at the rights of a teacher who is not represented by a union. Membership in teacher unions is relatively high. BLS puts the number at 35.4% lumping the profession in with training and library occupations. Some teachers unions have no rights to collectively bargain for their membership. What such unions can do is stand up for their individual member in an advisory capacity when a superior targets a teacher for something the teacher didn’t do. A weapon school administrators can hold over a teacher’s head is a negative letter in that teacher’s personnel file, known in educator parlance as the dreaded “letter in file.” It can have great implications for a comfortable workplace environment and the possible impact on future employment.

It’s totally reasonable that the teacher should have the right to respond with his/her side of the story and, at the very least, be able to read and sign the letter that has been placed in the file and attach the response as to why you feel the administrator letter is not representative of the facts. If the teacher is a union member, you can bet that all of the above will happen automatically, accompanied by advice where needed. You may even be encouraged to grieve the matter or if the higher-ups are particularly recalcitrant, the teacher can take the matter to court or in some states file a complaint with the state Department of Labor. If the teacher is not disciplined within a three-year period of the filing, the letter is removed. If there is no teacher union representation (think right to work states), and no controlling state statutes, then the teacher faces his/her potentially devastating incident alone with few to NO rights.

In other words, you CANNOT read the letter. You have no idea what the beef is that lies in your file possibly killing the rest of your career. There is no federal law forcing the administration to give you access. You CANNOT respond or give your side of the story. In short, in states with no union representation and no applicable statutes, you might as well be living in a fascist country, authoritarian and right-wing not to mention a total denial of due process. There are 5 states that have no file provisions and several others that have general access statutes that do not apply to personnel files. There’s my story “What’s gonna shock yuh!”

Here’s a site that runs down all 50 state laws on the subject.

I would encourage anti-union visitors to PoliticusUSA to rethink your position. The big shots are making all the money. Your pay increases are slight to non-existent. Reasonable guarantees of hours, overtime, health care, working conditions and just plain humane treatment are often ignored when there’s no place to go for corrective action. Don’t just be knee-jerk puppets to people who have no interest in you as an individual, only as a number to do the dirty work so the CEOs can continue to prosper. The unions will cost them money that will go into your pocket. That’s why you’re being played for a sucker with nothing but distortions and out and out lies.

Note to teachers: VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS!