Trenton, NJ (August 4, 2004) — Defending the rights of non-union local government employees statewide, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation today filed arguments at the New Jersey Supreme Court on behalf of Hunterdon County workers attacking the constitutionality of a new state law – backed by Governor Jim McGreevey – forcing workers to pay dues to an unwanted union.
A national legal aid organization, the Foundation filed its amicus curiae, or “friend of the court,” brief in Hunterdon County v. CWA, Local 1034 for Henry Wieczorek and other non-union Hunterdon County employees. The brief challenges a decision by the Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC), taken pursuant to the new state law, ordering the county to seize compulsory union dues from all employees in the Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 1034 bargaining unit. In June, the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, ruled in favor of the PERC’s order to seize compulsory dues. That decision was subsequently appealed by the County.
Foundation attorneys argue that there is no compelling state interest to justify PERC’s forcing Hunterdon County to collect compulsory dues from non-union members when county officials have already rejected the requirement during the collective bargaining process. In addition, Foundation attorneys charge that, if counties are forced to collect the fees, it will strip away safeguards that protect workers from having compulsory agency fees used to support union politics or other activities not directly related to collective bargaining.
“Big Labor wants to require the county government to be their collection agency and strong-arm workers into subsidizing a union that they do not support,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Apparently experiencing difficulty persuading employees to join the union voluntarily, union officials are grabbing for the power to compel payment of dues as a job condition.”
Until recently, New Jersey’s county and municipal employees who refrained from union membership could not be compelled to pay so-called “agency fees” unless local government officials agreed to such a requirement through the collective bargaining process. However, a statute signed by Governor McGreevey in 2002 gave union officials the power to utilize a new PERC procedure to force county governments to impose the requirement as a job condition.
In December 2002, in response to demands from CWA Local 1034, PERC ordered Hunterdon County to begin deducting “agency fees” from all non-union county government employees. Seeking to defend its employees’ freedom of association, Hunterdon County officials filed suit against the CWA union challenging the commission’s order. A ruling in favor of the County would strike down the McGreevey law.
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.
