**Lexington, KY (July 7, 2006)** – In response to a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by seven nonunion Lexington firefighters with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 526 union officials have temporarily backtracked and asked Lexington city officials to cease the seizure of forced union dues from the firefighters’ paychecks.

The suit against the IAFF Local 526, filed June 22 by the firefighters in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, also named Lexington Mayor Teresa Isaac, and other top city officials, for signing and enforcing an agreement with the union that resulted in the unconstitutional acts. The firefighters had asked the court to enjoin IAFF officials from seizing mandatory dues from any nonunion employee forced to be “represented” by the union officials until they provided the legally required notice and procedures. Local 526 officials backtracked to head off an embarrassing court order.

While IAFF union officials have ceased the illegal dues collections, they have not yet addressed the firefighters’ demands for restitution for past violations of their constitutional rights, including refunds of all forced dues seized improperly since the collective bargaining agreement went into effect in June 2005. However, this apparent admission of wrong-doing marks a reversal by Local 526 union official Mark Blankenship who was quoted in news reports immediately following the lawsuit’s filing claiming: “We follow all of the federal and state rules.”

“Apparently only a federal lawsuit will persuade these union officials to begin to respect long standing law and the constitutional rights of the very firefighters they claim to ‘represent’,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This case demonstrates how vulnerable employees are in Kentucky, since there is not yet a Right to Work law on the books making union membership and dues payment strictly voluntary.”

The firefighters’ lawsuit will continue until IAFF Local 526 union officials address all the constitutional violations raised in the complaint.

Under the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court decision Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson, before seizing any forced dues, union officials must first provide an independent audited disclosure of the union’s expenses. Such audits are intended to ensure that forced union dues seized from nonunion public employees do not fund union activities unrelated to collective bargaining, such as union political activities.

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.