Public Employee Union Faces Federal Lawsuit for Illegal Forced Dues Scheme

Right to Work Foundation attorneys challenge union hierarchy for violating employee’s constitutional rights

San Francisco, CA (March 6, 2012) – An Alameda County East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) employee has filed a federal lawsuit against a local union and the public agency for violating his rights.

James C. Hankins filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation.

Hankins resigned formal union membership from the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 444 more than ten years ago.

However, in April 2011, AFSCME Local 444 and EBMUD officials began to deduct full union dues from Hawkins’s paycheck as if he was a full union member.

Read the entire press release here.

San Francisco, CA (March 6, 2012) – An Alameda County East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) employee has filed a federal lawsuit against a local union and the public agency for violating his rights.

James C. Hankins filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Francisco with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation.

Hankins resigned formal union membership from the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 444 more than ten years ago.

However, in April 2011, AFSCME Local 444 and EBMUD officials began to deduct full union dues from Hawkins’s paycheck as if he was a full union member.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Foundation’s Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson (1986) case that union officials can collect some union fees as a condition of employment, but they must first provide public workers with an independently-audited financial breakdown of all forced-dues union expenditures and the opportunity to object to and challenge the amount of forced union dues or fees before an impartial decision maker. This minimal safeguard at least ensures that workers have an opportunity to refrain from paying for union boss political activities and union member-only events.

AFSCME Local 444 union officials have refused to provide such a breakdown and have not given workers an opportunity to opt out of paying full union dues. The EBMUD is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit for its complicity in the confiscation of full forced dues from Hankins’s paycheck.

Hankins seeks refunds of the amount of forced union dues payments illegally taken from his paychecks and to enjoin future collection until AFSCME union officials comply with Hudson.

"AFSCME Local 444 union bosses are deliberately keeping rank-and-file workers in the dark to keep their forced-dues gravy train going," said Patrick Semmens, National Right to Work Foundation legal information director. "To prevent these types of forced unionism abuses, California needs a Right to Work law making union affiliation and dues payments completely voluntary."

Madison, WI (March 6, 2012) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, a Wisconsin public school teacher filed an amicus curiae brief in state court yesterday supporting Governor Walker’s public sector union reform bill. The recently-enacted legislation ensures that most Wisconsin public employees do not have to join or pay dues to a union as a condition of employment and bans automatic union dues deductions from public employees’ paychecks.

Eli Grajkowski, a veteran Wisconsin educator, filed the brief today in Dane County Circuit Court in response to a union legal challenge by the Public Employees Local 61 union and Madison Teachers, Inc., a local affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA) union.

In the brief, Grajkowski asks the judge to uphold the legislation as constitutional and deny the unions’ request to suspend the law. Grajkowski’s arguments rely on the Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent Davenport v. WEA, in which the Court unanimously held that union bosses enjoy an “extraordinary power” to force workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment, but have no constitutional right to use government resources to deduct union dues or fees from workers’ paychecks.

Meanwhile, three additional Wisconsin civil servants –Kristi Lacroix, Nathan Berish, and Ricardo Cruz – continue to defend Walker’s reforms from a federal court challenge to the recently-enacted legislation. Two other public servants – Christopher King and Carie Kendrick – have also filed an amicus brief opposing a third union legal challenge to the legislation in another federal court.

“Once again, courageous Wisconsin public servants who want nothing to do with union bosses’ so-called ‘representation’ have stepped forward to protect these vital reforms,” said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work. “No worker should be forced to pay union dues just to get or keep a job, which is why Wisconsin should pass full Right to Work law, ensuring that all Badger State employees are free of forced unionism.”

Workers File Brief Opposing Union Boss Challenge to Indiana Right to Work Law

National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys provide free legal aid to workers defending law that ends union boss forced dues powers

Hammond, IN (March 2, 2012) – In response to union bosses’ federal lawsuit against Indiana’s popular Right to Work law, a group of Indiana workers from across the state are filing an amicus brief in support of their newly-enacted Right to Work freedoms.

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, the four workers – David Bercot, a certified wastewater operator for ITR Concession Company which services Indiana toll road rest stops in the Fort Wayne-area; Joel Tibbetts, a Minteq International assistant manager in Valparaiso; Douglas Richards, an employee with Goshen-based Cequent Towing Products; and Larry Getts, a Dana Holding Corporation tube press technician in Albion – all joined in the brief defending the law.

Union officials publicly floated the idea of challenging Indiana’s Right to Work law before it was enacted. International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 150 headquartered in suburban Chicago, Illinois filed a federal lawsuit late last month challenging the law and requesting an injunction against its implementation.

Both Bercot’s and Tibbetts’s workplaces are unionized by the IUOE Local 150 union hierarchy. Both workers have refrained from union membership but are still forced to accept IUOE Local 150 union officials’ so-called "representation" and were required to pay dues to the union as a condition of employment before Indiana’s Right to Work law was enacted.

Read the entire press release here.

Hammond, IN (March 2, 2012) – In response to union bosses’ federal lawsuit against Indiana’s popular Right to Work law, a group of Indiana workers from across the state are filing an amicus brief in support of their newly-enacted Right to Work freedoms.

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, the four workers – David Bercot, a certified wastewater operator for ITR Concession Company which services Indiana toll road rest stops in the Fort Wayne-area; Joel Tibbetts, a Minteq International assistant manager in Valparaiso; Douglas Richards, an employee with Goshen-based Cequent Towing Products; and Larry Getts, a Dana Holding Corporation tube press technician in Albion – all joined in the brief defending the law.

Union officials publicly floated the idea of challenging Indiana’s Right to Work law before it was enacted. International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 150 headquartered in suburban Chicago, Illinois filed a federal lawsuit late last month challenging the law and requesting an injunction against its implementation.

Both Bercot’s and Tibbetts’s workplaces are unionized by the IUOE Local 150 union hierarchy. Both workers have refrained from union membership but are still forced to accept IUOE Local 150 union officials’ so-called “representation” and were required to pay dues to the union as a condition of employment before Indiana’s Right to Work law was enacted.

Indiana is the nation’s 23rd Right to Work state. Public polling shows that nearly 80 percent of Americans support the Right to Work principle, including 80 percent of union members.

Foundation attorneys have successfully defended state Right to Work laws in the past, including Oklahoma’s. The Foundation’s legal task force dedicated to defending Indiana’s Right to Work law has already examined the union lawyers’ lines of attack against the law and determined that the law is on sound legal ground. A Foundation attorney will attend the injunction hearing on Monday in Hammond.

“Union bosses want to undo what thousands of Hoosier citizens have worked hard to achieve over the past decade,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Because union partisans cannot win the hearts and minds of Indiana’s workers and voters, they seek to have the courts strike down Indiana’s popular Right to Work law for them.”

In addition to defending the Right to Work law from spurious union legal challenges, Foundation staff attorneys are giving free legal aid to employees seeking to exercise their newfound Right to Work. Information about Indiana’s Right to Work law, including how Indiana employees can exercise their Right to Work can be found on the Foundation’s website: www.nrtw.org.

Federal Court Rubberstamps Obama NLRB Rule to Push More Workers into Union Ranks

National Right to Work Foundation fights Labor Board’s decision to promote monopoly unionism in virtually every workplace in America

Washington, DC (March 2, 2012) – Today, a federal judge upheld the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) power to enforce its controversial new rule requiring virtually every employer in the country to post biased information about employee rights online and in the workplace, even if they’ve never committed a violation or been accused of unfair labor practices.

The judge ruled that, if an employer fails to post the notice, it can be found to have committed an unfair labor practice and that fact can be used as evidence of "anti-union animus" in other cases in which an employer is accused of violating federal labor law.

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation in conjunction with the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) filed the lawsuit challenging the notice posting rules with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Patrick Semmens, Legal Information Director of the National Right to Work Foundation, had the following statement in the wake of the judge’s ruling:

"It is unfortunate that the court rubberstamped the Obama NLRB’s rule, giving union bosses another tool to push workers into forced union dues ranks, and threatening employers if they don’t display biased pro-compulsory unionism propaganda on their property.

Read the entire press release here.

Washington, DC (March 2, 2012) – Today, a federal judge upheld the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) power to enforce its controversial new rule requiring virtually every employer in the country to post biased information about employee rights online and in the workplace, even if they’ve never committed a violation or been accused of unfair labor practices.

The judge ruled that, if an employer fails to post the notice, it can be found to have committed an unfair labor practice and that fact can be used as evidence of "anti-union animus" in other cases in which an employer is accused of violating federal labor law.

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation in conjunction with the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) filed the lawsuit challenging the notice posting rules with the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

Patrick Semmens, Legal Information Director of the National Right to Work Foundation, had the following statement in the wake of the judge’s ruling:

"It is unfortunate that the court rubberstamped the Obama NLRB’s rule, giving union bosses another tool to push workers into forced union dues ranks, and threatening employers if they don’t display biased pro-compulsory unionism propaganda on their property.

The judge’s ruling effectively requires every job provider in America, from Mom and Pop shops and small businesses to larger companies, even some religiously-affiliated organizations, to post biased notices about workers’ rights, leaving the distorted NLRB requirement in place.

"In the past, employers were required to post notices of workers’ rights only if they violated labor laws. However, the judge’s decision turns that precedent on its head and almost guarantees that any job provider who fails to post a notice will face legal consequences.

"National Right to Work Foundation plans to appeal the court’s decision."

National Right to Work Foundation attorneys argue that the NLRB has exceeded its authority granted by Congress and violated free speech guarantees of the First Amendment.

Springfield, VA (March 1, 2012) – Today, the National Right to Work Foundation announced the addition of John Raudabaugh, a former National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Member and labor and employee relations attorney.

Raudabaugh was nominated to the NLRB by President George H. W. Bush, serving from 1990 to 1993. He has testified before the Senate Committee on Appropriations and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce regarding labor law reform and card-check unionization drives.

Raudabaugh also has extensive private sector legal experience, most recently at the Washington, D.C. office of the Nixon Peabody LLP law firm. He has served as an adjunct professor of labor law at Northwestern University, University of Chicago, and Emory University Law Schools.

Raudabaugh will split time between the Foundation’s Springfield offices and Ave Maria Law School, where he will hold the Reed Larson Professorship of Labor Law. The Professorship was jointly established by the Foundation and Ave Maria to offer courses on workplace litigation and employee freedom.

“John Raudabaugh brings a wealth of experience and a passion for protecting employee rights to our legal aid program,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “He’ll also be training a new generation of attorneys at Ave Maria to stand up for freedom in the workplace.”

In addition to his academic duties, Raudabaugh will help Foundation staff attorneys craft legal strategies to protect and expand employee rights. He will also author “NLRB Watch,” a new regular feature on the Foundation’s website aimed at monitoring the Board’s impact on employee freedom in the workplace.

“With John’s help, our experienced legal team will continue to expand the Foundation’s efforts to help employees whose rights have been abused by compulsory unionism,” continued Mix.

Bloomsburg, PA (February 29, 2012) – With the help of National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys, a local Del Monte Foods employee has reached a settlement with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 38 after a union official repeatedly harassed him on the job.

Ronald Brobst, a veteran Del Monte employee, is not a member of UFCW Local 38 and had previously opted out of paying for certain UFCW activities, such as union political activism. Because Pennsylvania lacks a Right to Work law, nonunion employees like Brobst can be forced to pay up to 100% of union dues as a condition of employment. However, the Foundation-won Supreme Court decision Communication Workers v. Beck guarantees that nonunion employees have the right to opt out of dues used for activities, like politics, unrelated to workplace bargaining.

Brobst was repeatedly harassed at work for exercising his constitutional rights to refrain from union membership and the payment of full union dues. In March 2011, a union shop steward reported that Brobst had not cleaned up debris at his work station to his supervisor. In August, the same shop steward falsely indicated that Brobst had not followed proper lockout procedures on a conveyor belt he had been working on.

With the help of Right to Work attorneys, Brobst responded by filing federal unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board.

The settlement agreed upon by Brobst and UFCW Local 38 requires union officials to post workplace notices explaining employees’ rights to refrain from union membership and the payment of full union dues. The notice also promises that nonunion employees will not suffer harassment or retaliation.

“Mr. Brobst’s settlement, which will be posted where all his co-workers can see it, makes it clear that a UFCW official violated the law with her campaign of harassment,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Once again, union officials have shown they are willing to cajole and intimidate independent employees to get them to toe the union line.”

“These ugly tactics could be eliminated if Pennsylvania had a Right to Work law on its books that protected employees’ rights to choose to join and pay dues or fees to a union,” concluded Mix.

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