Teacher Unions

Right to Work Foundation Announces New Addition to Legal Team

Anthony Riedel — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:39:30 -0500

Washington, DC (January 30, 2012) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has hired Sarah Hartsfield of Austin, Texas, as an addition to its legal staff.

Hartsfield is a recently sworn in member of the Virginia State Bar and 2011 graduate of the Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

"Sarah brings to the Foundation a real commitment to defending and advancing individual liberty against the injustices of compulsory unionism," said Ray LaJeunesse, vice president and legal director of the National Right to Work Foundation.

"She will assist the Foundation's cutting-edge legal team in defending America's workers from Big Labor's growing influence in the public sector, enforcing individual employees' rights against compulsory unionism, and establishing new precedents to increase workplace freedom for America’s workers."

Civil Servants File Brief Opposing Union Challenge to Public-Sector Unionism Reforms

Anthony Riedel — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:37:58 -0500

Madison, WI (January 9, 2012) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, two Wisconsin public employees have filed an amicus curiae brief in favor of Scott Walker's government-sector monopoly bargaining reform. The reform protects the Right to Work for most Wisconsin public workers and bans automatic forced-union-dues seizures from public employees' paychecks.

Christopher King, a social services specialist for Western Wisconsin Cares, and Carie Kendrick, a custodial lead at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, filed the brief with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.

Teacher Files Brief in Wisconsin Government Unionism Reform Battle in Federal Court

Anthony Riedel — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 09:54:48 -0400

Madison, WI (June 29, 2011) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, a Kenosha teacher affected by Wisconsin’s recent public-sector unionism reforms has filed an amicus curiae brief in federal court.

Kristi Lacroix, who has been a teacher for 13 years and is an English teacher at the LakeView Technology Academy in Pleasant Prairie, filed the brief Monday in favor of the reforms which sharply limited government union officials’ monopoly bargaining power over public workers and taxpayers.

Earlier this month, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld Governor Scott Walker’s government-sector monopoly bargaining reform bill, which protects the Right to Work for most government employees and bans automatic forced-union-dues seizures from public employees’ paychecks.

Labor Board Investigation Finds Union Boss Scheme Discriminated Against Nonunion Teachers during Work Performance Hearings

Will Collins — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 17:46:33 -0400

Miami, FL (September 30, 2010) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a Florida public school teacher successfully challenged a discriminatory policy that prevented nonunion educators from bringing a representative of their choosing to school conferences that can result in disciplinary action.

Citizen Activist Wins Battle to Inform Keystone State Teachers of Their Constitutional Rights

Anthony Riedel — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 11:41:32 -0400

Harrisburg, PA (September 30, 2010) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, citizen activist Simon Campbell has bested teacher union bosses in state court over his right to inform Pennsylvania’s nonmember teachers of their constitutional rights regarding union membership and dues payment.

Several years ago, Simon Campbell of Bucks County founded a group dedicated to the goal of making sure all public school children in the state have the legal right to a strike-free education after his own children were forced out of school in the wake of a debilitating union boss-instigated strike.

Teacher Challenges School Policy that Discriminates Against Nonunion Teachers during Professional Hearings

Will Collins — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:01:27 -0400

Miami, FL (April 1, 2010) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a Miami-Dade public school teacher has filed unfair labor practice charges challenging a discriminatory policy that prevents nonunion teachers from using representatives of their own choosing during school investigatory interviews.

Shawn Beightol, a veteran chemistry teacher at Michel Krop Sr. High School, was told to report to the Miami-Dade County Office of Professional Standards (OPS) to discuss a possible violation of the school’s email policy last October.

The United Teachers of Dade (UTD) union is the exclusive bargaining agent for the Miami-Dade School District. However, Beightol is a member of the Professional Educations Network of Florida (PENFL), a nonunion teachers association. Although Beightol brought a representative from the PENFL to the October hearing, school officials refused to allow his advisor to participate.

Citizen Activist Seeks to Bring Union Boss Lobbying Disclosure Battle to Michigan Supreme Court

Anthony Riedel — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:59:21 -0500

Detroit, MI (January 28, 2010) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a citizen activist announced today he will file an appeal with the Michigan Supreme Court in an ongoing public disclosure battle over the use of school district e-mail systems for union political activities.

In 2007, political activist Chetly Zarko from DeWitt – invoking Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disclosure law – requested e-mail communications among Howell Education Association (HEA) union brass regarding heated bargaining negotiations between the Howell Public School (HPS) system and union officials. The HEA union is a local affiliate of the Michigan Education Association and National Education Association unions.

FEC Fails to Investigate Teachers’ Complaint of NEA Union Money Laundering Scheme

Anthony Riedel — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 12:37:03 -0500

Washington, DC (January 5, 2010) – Apparently without conducting a field investigation, the Federal Election Commission (FEC) dismissed a complaint against one of the most politically active unions in America after evidence surfaced that union officials deposited illegally laundered dues money into its political action committee (PAC).

Citing in part lack of sufficient funding to enforce the law, the FEC junked a complaint filed by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and two Alabama teachers who discovered a union scheme to divert convention reimbursements into the National Education Association (NEA) union’s PAC.

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

Will Collins — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:39:23 -0500

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.

Teachers File Class-Action Lawsuit against Union’s Mandatory Membership and Forced Dues Policies

Will Collins — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:08:55 -0400

Louisville, Kentucky (September 23, 2009) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, several Jefferson County educators have filed a federal class-action lawsuit against local and national teacher unions for a series of schemes designed to force unwilling educators into full-dues paying union membership.

The lawsuit alleges that union officials routinely blocked membership resignations for years at a time, automatically enrolled new teachers in the union without their consent, and used a collective bargaining scheme to force county teachers to pay union dues.