WHY THEY’RE SO ANGRY: Politico: GOP Govs Strike At Heart of Democratic Power. “Yet another element of the legislation could have even greater political consequences. The Republican would end the automatic deduction from their workers paychecks and make the unions collect the dues themselves, a move that would almost surely result in less cash flowing into labor coffers. It would block unions from collecting money from consenting workers’ paychecks for political operations and it would force annual elections on whether state workers even want a union, a lethal threat to public sector labor.”

See this from John Fund, too. Losing the check-off and having to actually work for members’ money would be a crippling blow, and would destroy the iron triangle in which unions take members’ money and use it to elect politicians who give more money to members.

Related: Battle Of Wisconsin Threatens Unions’ Political Might.