FREE-RIDER (En)

An employee who does not belong to a contract-holding union (while being eligible for membership), who does not pay dues or other fees and assessments to the union, but who receives the benefits of the union's activities in collective bargaining and grievance and arbitration handling.

"Evidence suggests that the recent growth of free riding reflects institutional changes and not the decline of co-operative values and the ascendancy of individualism. The Canadian solution to the cheating problem of free riders, which is the Rand formula, inspired Australian unions to introduce (excessive) ‘agency fees' into collective agreements."
(Peetz, D., "Co-operative values, institutions and free riding in Australia: can it learn from Canada?" Industrial Relations Review, Sept. 2005)

Free riders avoid paying union dues. Even though collective agreements generally cover all workers in a particular category (directly or indirectly), membership is seldom 100%. As a result, workers who are not union members often get a ‘free ride.' They benefit from the union's bargaining power without actually paying for it.
(adapted from Public Services International, The Free-Rider Problem, visited 2009-06-25)

If one can receive the benefits of a union's activity without having to pay union fees, then why join a union? Free-riders are at the source of this debate:

• Unions generally hold the "free-ride" to be one of the strongest arguments for non-union individuals to join, since non-members receive benefits without having to pay any of the expenses or do any of the work for the benefits which accrue to them.
• Union members maintain that free-riders receive all the benefits of the union contract, yet do not pay the dues of fees that make these benefits possible. Therefore, free-riders are said to have a financial advantage over dues-paying members.
• Opponents of compulsory unionism argue, on the other hand, that no worker should be forced to join a union as a condition of employment.

(adapted from Anglim, C.T., Labour, Employment and the Law, A Dictionary, Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1997)