Regular Freedom@Work readers may remember a Foundation lawsuit filed in September against the Jefferson County Teacher Association union and its national affiliate, the NEA. Right to Work attorneys are attacking the union hierarchy's overall monopoly bargaining privilege, as well as its illegal union membership policy that automatically enrolls teachers as union members, holds them hostage in full union membership, and forces unwilling educators to pay union dues.

Although the embarrassment of the lawsuit forced Kentucky union bosses to announce a few minor concessions, Right to Work attorneys are pressing forward to take down the union's entire forced union dues scheme. Foundation VP Stefan Gleason appeared on the nationally-syndicated Francene Show last Tuesday to discuss the case. Click here to listen or use the embedded player below:

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Employee Lawsuit Pushes Teacher Union Bosses to Refund Dues, Allow Educators to Resign

Despite a partial victory, Right to Work Foundation presses forward with
lawsuit to ensure all public educators’ rights are protected

Louisville, KY (November 18, 2009) – Facing an embarrassing legal setback from rank-and-file teachers, Jefferson County Teacher Association (JCTA union officials announced their intention to refund several educators’ forced dues and allow public school employees to resign from union membership during a new window period and terminate certain forced dues payments.

This announcement comes on the heels of a class-action lawsuit filed by Jefferson County educators with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation. The lawsuit, filed against the JCTA union and its national affiliate, the National Education Association (NEA) union, in U.S. District Court, seeks the return of illegally seized dues, a modification of the union’s contract to allow employees to resign from union membership at any time, and a regular notice from the union brass informing public school employees of their right to refrain from formal union membership . . .

(Read more here)

Today, the Foundation issued a news release announcing parallel federal lawsuits concerning illegal forced dues:

With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, three UPS employees in Kentucky and two UPS employees in Ohio filed federal lawsuits Friday and Monday, respectively, against national and local Teamsters officials for illegal extraction of forced union dues.

In the lawsuits, the nonmember employees claim that the national and local unions breached their duty of fair representation and violated the employees’ First and Fifth Amendment rights by charging and collecting fees used for organizing nonunion workers throughout the United States and financing a members-only “Strike and Defense Fund.”

Read the rest of the Foundation's news release here.