I was forced to be in a union for 18 years, fuckem. It's great living in a place with RTW. There are still unions if you want to belong, I would rather deal with my employer on my own merit.

Texas is right to work. Here we have departments that are both Civil Service and Non-Civil Service. If a Dept is Civil Service, it may not have any special bargaining agreement, it have Meet and Confer or it can also be Collective Bargaining. If it is not Civil Service, it still will usually have an IAFF affiliation. If the union offers value / benefit to the members they will join, if not they won't.

Michigan went RTW a couple of years ago. Public safety unions were "exempted" from being able to opt out as I recall. Might want to check into if that may be the case for you guys too.

J-

At the employer level it can still be a helpful took to interact with the city. At the state level in Texas, the Texas State Association of Firefighters does a lot of good legislative work. They have had presumptive cancer laws passed and the list of cancers expanded (before this 95% of all work related cancer claims by firefighters were being denied), they had PTSD ruled to be cumulative vs having to stem from one single event, they had the state death benefit for firefighters almost doubled for Line of Duty Death, etc. This is all funded from union dues. In a way, I think it makes the local be more responsive to the members. If the members don't feel they are getting value for their money, they won't belong.

It’s a Crap law . Should be called “ right to be fired for absolutely no reason “

IAM