**Phoenix, AZ (August 16, 2006)** – Agreeing with arguments filed by National Right to Work Foundation attorneys and the City of Phoenix, a unanimous appellate court yesterday rejected a full-frontal union attack on Arizona’s highly popular Right to Work law, which protects employees’ right to choose whether or not to join or financially support a union.

“It is clear that the populace, through constitutional amendment and legislation, intended to forbid both management and labor from imposing, as a condition of employment, the requirement that any person participate in any form or design of union membership,” wrote the State of Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One.

The case originated in 2001 during contract negotiations between the City of Phoenix and officials of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union, AFL-CIO, Local 2384. The union hierarchy wanted to force city employees to pay mandatory union fees equivalent to nearly 80 percent of full union dues.

When Phoenix officials refused to negotiate these fees on the grounds that they violated Arizona’s Constitution and Right to Work statutes, the union filed an unsuccessful complaint at the Phoenix Employee Relations Board. After losing again in Arizona Superior Court, union lawyers filed an appeal in the Arizona Court of Appeals.

Foundation attorneys filed an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief in 2005 supporting the City’s position that any form of forced dues violates state law. The Grand Canyon state’s highly popular Right to Work law protects all public workers and virtually all private-sector employees from being forced to join or support a union as a condition of employment. Right to Work laws also help attract new jobs to states that have these protections, and, as a result, America’s 22 Right to Work states have far outpaced compulsory unionism states in job creation and increases in the standard of living for working families.

“Union officials hate Right to Work laws because they allow workers to hold them accountable,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “They don’t want to have to persuade employees to give their voluntary support – they just want the money.”

Arizona’s Right to Work law was enacted almost 60 years ago and is so firmly a part of Arizona’s culture that it is engrained in the state constitution.

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.