National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys file charges to defend and enforce Michigan’s law protecting public employees from mandatory union dues and fees

Clarkston, Michigan (November 11, 2015) – A computer science teacher in Clarkston, Michigan has filed, with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, unfair labor practice charges with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission after he was told he was required to pay union fees as a condition of employment.

Ron Conwell has worked for Clarkston Community Schools as a computer science teacher since 2001. Upon employment, Conwell joined the workplace union, Clarkston Education Association, which has had successive monopoly bargaining agreements with the school district.

On August 20, 2015, Conwell resigned his union membership as is his right under state law. A short time later, Conwell received a letter stating his resignation had been accepted, but that he would still be required to pay an “agency fee” to Clarkston Education Association as a condition of employment if he wanted to continue teaching at his school.

In December of 2012, Michigan became the 24th Right to Work state when it passed Right to Work laws prohibiting the payment of union dues or fees as a condition of employment. The Michigan Right to Work laws grandfathered union forced-fee agreements entered into before the law went into effect. However, the current monopoly bargaining agreement between Clarkston Education Association and Clarkston Community Schools was entered into in September 2015, more than two years after Michigan’s Right to Work Law took effect, and unlawfully still contains a clause requiring union dues or fees as a condition of employment.

In addition, the union and school district entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) before Michigan’s Right to Work law took effect in an attempt to extend the forced-fee requirement. However, per its own terms, the MOA expired on August 31, 2014, the expiration of the successor collective bargaining agreement, to which the MOA referred.

“Union bosses have again blatantly ignored Michigan’s Right to Work law, and violated the rights of employees they claim to represent,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “That Foundation attorneys have had to file more than two dozen cases for workers to enforce Michigan’s Right to Work laws demonstrates that union bosses have no plans to give up their forced dues empire anytime soon.”

“As this case shows, passage of Michigan’s Right to Work law was just the beginning when it comes to ending union boss forced dues demands, which is why the National Right to Work Foundation continues to offer free legal assistance to any Michigan employee seeking to exercise his or her Right to Work,” continued Mix.

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.