You can learn a lot about a ballot initiative by finding out who's backing it. In the case of Proposition 75, it's author is Lew Uhler, a right wing leader and activist. A former officer in the extremist John Birch Society, and currently a supporter of President G. W. Bush's efforts to privatize Social Security, Uhler hates unions, public education and public employees. So it makes perfect sense he would propose to cripple the ability of public employee unions to advocate politically on behalf of their members and constituencies.

After months of refusing to state directly whether he supported Prop 75 or not, Governor Schwarzenegger finally announced his support at the Republican state party convention on September 18. This was no big surprise, since the Yes on 75 campaign leadership and fundraisers are all friends of the governor.

Uhler's Prop 75 campaign is funded by the deceptively named "Small Business Action Committee," which has received nearly all its money from large corporations. In 2004, SBAC's biggest donors included Ameriquest, The Irvine Company, 21st Century Insurance, Philip Morris, and PG&E.

Prop 75 would force public employee unions—and only public employee unions—to collect signed statements from each member each year before spending their dues money politically. Uhler claims that he is deeply concerned over the rights of individual union members, who might not agree with how their dues money is spent. (Oddly, Uhler doesn't propose that corporations must receive permission from each shareholder before making political contributions.)

In actuality, current law protects workers' political rights. Union members have the right to opt out of political contributions at any time. What is really at issue is whether workers will have a voice in political action. Unions are already outspent by corporations by a more than twenty to one ratio. Prop 75's reporting requirements would make that disparity worse, forcing unions to expend huge amounts of time bureaucratically collecting signatures, instead of educating, agitating, and organizing.

Unions are the democratic voice of workers–in the workplace through collective bargaining, and in the legislature and ballot box through political action. If union members don't agree with the political priorities of their elected leadership, they can elect a new leadership. What Uhler and his corporate friends are after is upending union democracy, substituting the tyranny of a minority of individuals over the will of the majority.

Prop 75 is profoundly anti-democratic. Don't let the right wing silence workers' political voice. Vote NO on Proposition 75.

• View CFT's new No on 75 campaign video
• Download a flyer on Prop 75 (frequently asked questions)
• Download a flyer on Prop 75 in Spanish
• Download a sample school board resolution against 75
• California Labor Federation campaign kit
• "Prop 75 could weaken clout of unions", Los Angeles Times, August 14, 2005
• "He's an old hand from right field," Sacramento Bee, August 15, 2005 (article on Prop 75 author Lew Uhler)
• "Prop 75 will be a meaty issue for unions at Labor Day picnics," Los Angeles Times, September 1, 2005
• "A losing proposition for unions," Sacramento Bee, September 5, 2005
• "Should union dues back political causes?," Christian Science Monitor, September 30, 2005