By BERRY CRAIG
Alliance for Retired Americans
Donald Trump hasn't cornered the market on The Big Lie. Not surprisingly, his union-busting pals in Tennessee are working overtime to keep the UAW out of VW's Chattanooga plant and they're torturing the truth with an old standby: union members are forced to contribute some of their dues money to political candidates they don't support.
The Volunteer State tilts Trump-ward, so opponents of the UAW are claiming that if WV workers vote the union in, they'll have to--you guessed it--pony up for Joe Biden.
The Michigan State Employees Association, part of AFSCME, does a great job of telling the truth about unions and political contributions. In a nutshell, here are the facts that apply to all unions:
-- Federal and various state campaign contribution laws prohibit dues dollars being used for political campaign contributions.
-- Unions participate in political campaigns through donations from a political action committee (PAC) fund, funded by VOLUNTARY union member contributions.
-- Contributions to the political action committee are funded entirely through VOLUNTARY donations from MSEA members.
-- Usually these contributions are made through a VOLUNTARY reoccurring payroll deduction, in the amount authorized by the individual member. In other words, only money VOLUNTARILY contributed to the political action committee by participating members is used for political campaign contributions.