Foundation president: Union boss violations of Janus rights still widespread but Foundation will keep fighting

Washington, D.C. (June 27, 2019) – Today is the one-year anniversary of the Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision – issued June 27, 2018 – which found that mandatory union payments violated the First Amendment rights of public sector workers. National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorney William Messenger represented plaintiff Mark Janus in the case, including in oral arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court in February 2018.

National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix issued the following statement on the occasion of the decision’s one-year anniversary:

“Today we celebrate the Supreme Court’s affirmation of a simple constitutional truth: that no American public sector worker’s employment ought to hinge on whether they pay fees to an organization whose actions and political speech they may bitterly disagree with. As the High Court articulated in its decision, only when union officials obtain the voluntary and affirmative consent of workers before collecting union dues and fees are workers’ First Amendment rights respected.

Unfortunately, rather than follow the law and honor workers right to choose whether or not to fund a labor union, union bosses and many of their political allies in state governments have engaged in a widespread and systematic campaign to undermine, ignore and block employee rights under the Janus decision. Across the country union officials are attempting to trap workers in dues payment schemes that are designed to ‘work around’ the constitutional protections of the Janus decision.

In response to Big Labor’s refusal to respect public employees’ constitutional rights, National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have already filed dozens of cases for workers seeking to enforce the Janus decision, including many that have resulted in union officials backing down by returning past forced dues and eliminating unconstitutional policies that restrict workers’ rights to stop dues payments. We’re proud to fight for these workers and we will continue to work tirelessly to assist more workers in enforcing their rights under the Foundation-won Janus decision.”

A video version of the statement can be viewed here.

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 more than 250 cases nationwide per year.