Union Shop = Union Power.

Why is Northwestern proposing an Open Shop?

Arguments for Open Shop often suggest that it’s about our “right to work” or “freedom” not to join a union. Some states have right-to-work laws prohibiting Union Shops. In states without right-to-work laws (like Illinois, which amended its constitution in 2022 to guarantee a right to collective bargaining), employers sometimes nonetheless propose an Open Shop. But in practice, “right-to-work” translates to a right to work for less. Across the country (see here and here), workers under right-to-work laws or in Open Shops consistently have lower wages and less job security.

In fact, the origins of right to work clauses are rooted in racism. The goal of original right to work advocates was to divide workers along racial, religious, or gender-based lines. Open Shop or right-to-work advocates in the South pushed for it by telling white workers they should have the choice to refuse being in the same union as Black workers. Just ask the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.:

“In our glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard against being fooled by false slogans, such as ‘right to work.’ It is a law to rob us of our civil rights and job rights. Its purpose is to destroy labor unions and the freedom of collective bargaining by which unions have improved wages and working conditions of everyone…Wherever these laws have been passed, wages are lower, job opportunities are fewer and there are no civil rights. We do not intend to let them do this to us. We demand this fraud be stopped.” —Martin Luther King, 1961

Today, worker protections are weaker and wages are lower in the South than anywhere else in the country, for many workers, regardless of the color of their skin. Right to work legislation is directly to blame. That doesn’t stop our fellow workers in the South from fighting for the working conditions they deserve, but it makes the fight a lot harder.

Northwestern’s stance against Union Shop is not surprising. They want a weaker union. At the bargaining table, they argue that Union Shop would “force Northwestern to fire those international workers the Union cares so much about.” They cynically redeploy those tired, old tactics of trying to scare us and divide workers, this time along the line of domestic / international. 

Why do they deploy these scare tactics? Because they think our union of predominantly international workers won’t fight for a Union Shop. Northwestern knows that international workers’ status and ability to stay in the US depends on their employment. They know that international workers are more vulnerable and this can be taken advantage of to keep costs down and profits up. They are hoping that our union will be too afraid to fight for the contract, respect, dignity, rights, and protection we deserve. 

Too bad for Northwestern’s admin—our group of over 70% international workers formed a union because we know that we will only improve our working conditions and salaries and get the dignity and respect we deserve at work if we unite in a collective voice. We know that a Union Shop is the best way to protect all of us. 

And here’s the most important part: Establishing a Union Shop is critical to every other fight that will take place during negotiations of this first contract and future contracts. Without a secure and powerful union, anything we win in this first contract could be rolled back or frozen in the future. We could win an incredible raise during this round, only for Northwestern to deny future raises to a weaker union.

Open Shop leaves us divided. Union Shop means we're all in this together. It means we fight shoulder-to-shoulder to improve conditions for all and get the respect and dignity we deserve. And we know that United We Win, Divided We Beg.

Want to join the fight for Union Shop? Get active in your union and make your voice heard.

What if I am hesitant and don’t join the union right away? Or I miss an email asking me to join?

The university will likely continue to say that the union wants to fire people. That is not true. Our union is interested in ensuring our union security; the university hires and fires people. To illustrate what a Union Shop might actually look like, let’s consider the scenario of an imaginary worker named Paula Postdoc. 

• Paula starts a new job as a postdoc at Northwestern on January 1st. Welcome to Northwestern, Paula! Shortly thereafter, the university informs our union that Paula has been hired. 

• Our union reaches out to Paula letting her know she’s in a union, is guaranteed several rights, protections, and working conditions, and should sign her union card and become a dues-paying member. Dues will be taken out of her paycheck by the university; the university will then send those dues to the union. We inform her that she has the right to object to paying dues on religious grounds or what is called a Beck objector.

• The calendar hits March 1st, and Paula still hasn’t signed her card, paid dues, or registered an objection. Maybe she missed our original email; maybe she has some concerns about joining a union. Our union sends her a reminder.

• The calendar hits April 1st. Our union sends her a second reminder.

• The calendar hits May 1st. Our union sends her a third and final reminder. 

• The calendar hits June 1st. Our union informs the university that Paula is not paying her dues. 

• Paula is informed by the university that she must sign her card and pay dues, register an objection, or that she may be terminated.

This scenario serves to highlight important key facts:

• This is a several months-long process, with many opportunities for Paula to speak to her union.

• Paula can register to object to paying dues.

However, it’s also important to remember:

• By law, a religious objector will have to pay an amount equal to dues to a nonreligious charitable organization.

• By law, a Beck objector will still have to pay fees, where fees are calculated by taking the total amount of dues and subtracting those being used by our union for political purposes. Recall that dues will likely be somewhere around 1.5 - 2% and most of that will likely be fees.

• Workers who are not members of the union still have to pay some form of fees or dues, but don’t get to vote on union matters like what we negotiate at the bargaining table or who we elect to our executive (e.g., president of the union).