The Supreme Court is reviewing the constitutionality of forcing employees to pay union fees/dues and join a public sector labor union. Hopefully the Court will see that it violates free speech and association. Twice I experienced money removed involuntarily from my paycheck and given to a labor union. I did not want to join a labor union and I did not want to pay them a fee for services I did not get. A labor union is a hindrance to my own personal advancement. We always hear the labor union position that “we bargain for your pay”. My position is “my pay should be determined based on my own worth and credentials and not based on some one-size-fits-all pay chart”. When my supervisor petitioned a pay increase for me due to exemplary performance, he was overturned and I was denied a pay increase because my time-in-grade did not match a chart. I realized that the labor union and their pay chart were holding me back. So I could continue to perform well and get the same pay increase as mediocre employees, or I could seek employment elsewhere. I changed jobs. The public sector gets to keep the mediocre performers and the high performers move on thanks to antiquated labor-management pay contracts. Currently the federal government is experiencing a huge decline in younger people wanting to work in the public sector. We need good people in public service more than ever. We need to get rid of punishing pay schemes perpetuated by outdated perceptions. Employees who do not pay union dues are called FREELOADERS. The commonly held belief, actually more a myth, is that unions are responsible for getting employees pay increases. I say BULLFEATHERS. Labor unions are merely middle men. I concede that historically the collective organization of workers had a place in the evolution of American industry. But those days are gone. Federal and state safety and employment laws fully protect workers. The paid labor union middle men are now the FREELOADERS. They take money from workers for imagined services. My next point on the illegality of public sector unions comes from President Franklin D. Roosevelt — he was against public sector unions because of the inherent conflict of interest. Public employees pay taxes which makes them the ultimate employers of themselves. The term FEATHERBEDDING was once used to explain the forced continuation of unnecessary jobs and titles when workplace technology and market changes caused their extinction. Public sector labor unions are now unnecessary in the workplace and should be put to bed. If the Supreme Court decides that forcing a public sector employee to join a labor union and taking money from employees without their consent is illegal, the public sector labor unions will soon be extinct.