Washington, DC (March 23, 2015) – Three Illinois state employees have moved to intervene in support of Governor Bruce Rauner’s federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of union officials’ power to force nonmember state employees to pay union fees as a condition of employment.

The three state employees, Mark Janus, Marie Quigley, and Brian Trygg, filed the motion to intervene in the lawsuit today with legal assistance from staff attorneys with the National Right to Work Foundation and the Illinois Policy Institute’s Liberty Justice Center.

Governor Rauner issued an executive order in February that instructs all state agencies to put in escrow, pending the outcome of the federal lawsuit filed the same day, all forced union-fee deductions from nonmember state employees’ wages required by Illinois’ public-sector labor relations statute.

The Governor’s lawsuit asks that a judgment be entered declaring unconstitutional the provisions of state collective bargaining agreements that require nonmember state employees to pay union fees, a judgment that would effectively grant those workers Right to Work protections.

In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court suggested in its Foundation-won Knox v. SEIU ruling that it was ready to reassess whether union bosses’ forced dues powers, which it called «something of an anomaly» in American jurisprudence, violate civil servants’ First Amendment rights. Then last year, in the Foundation-won Harris v. Quinn case that originated in Illinois, the Court struck down compulsory union fees for homecare providers who indirectly receive state subsidies based on their clientele. In Harris, a majority of the Court characterized public-sector union officials’ forced dues powers as «questionable on several grounds.»

Governor Rauner’s lawsuit seeks to apply the Court’s reasoning in these cases to free Illinois state employees from compulsory union fees.

«Governor Rauner’s actions may give Illinois public employees the Right to Work protections they so desperately need and deserve,» said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. «We applaud these civil servants for stepping up in support of their First Amendment right to not subsidize union officials’ agenda in order to work for their own government.»

NJ Public Safety Deputy Attorney General Files Federal Suit against IBEW Union

IBEW union officials fail to follow federal disclosure guidelines while requiring deputy AG to pay mandatory union fees

Trenton, NJ (March 20, 2015) – A New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety Deputy Attorney General has filed a federal lawsuit against a local International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) affiliate for violating his rights and refusing to follow federal disclosure requirements.

James Bennett filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

Even though Bennett is not a member of the IBEW Local 33 union, he must still accept union officials’ monopoly bargaining «representation.» Further, IBEW Local 33 union officials force him and other nonmembers at his workplace to pay the equivalent of 85 percent of full union dues, the maximum amount allowed under state law, as a condition of employment.

Click here to read the full release.

Trenton, NJ (March 20, 2015) – A New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety Deputy Attorney General has filed a federal lawsuit against a local International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) affiliate for violating his rights and refusing to follow federal disclosure requirements.

James Bennett filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

Even though Bennett is not a member of the IBEW Local 33 union, he must still accept union officials’ monopoly bargaining «representation.» Further, IBEW Local 33 union officials force him and other nonmembers at his workplace to pay the equivalent of 85 percent of full union dues, the maximum amount allowed under state law, as a condition of employment.

The U.S. Supreme Court has long held that workers have the unconditional right to refrain from union membership at any time. However, because New Jersey does not have a Right to Work law, union officials can compel nonmember workers into paying union dues and fees as a condition of employment.

The Supreme Court ruled in the Foundation’s Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson case that union officials must provide nonmember public workers with an independently-audited breakdown of all forced-dues union expenditures and the opportunity to object and challenge the amount of forced union fees before an impartial decision maker. This minimal safeguard is designed to ensure that workers have an opportunity to refrain from paying for union political activities and member-only events.

Bennett’s suit alleges that although Local 33 union officials purportedly charge him the maximum amount of forced union fees allowed under state law, they have failed to follow the federal disclosure requirements outlined by the U.S. Supreme Court in Hudson.

Bennett is asking the court to stop the illegal union deductions from his paychecks and order a refund of all illegally-seized union dues and fees, plus interest.

«To keep their forced-dues gravy train going, IBEW union officials are keeping public servants in the dark about their rights,» said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. «This case underscores why New Jersey needs to follow the example most recently set by Wisconsin and pass a Right to Work law making union affiliation and dues payments completely voluntary.»

Twenty-five states have Right to Work protections for employees. Public polling shows that nearly 80 percent of Americans and union members support the principle of voluntary unionism.

Worker Advocate Offers Legal Aid to Wisconsin Workers Seeking to Exercise Rights under New Right to Work Law

Foundation has long history of assisting workers seeking to refrain from union membership and dues payments

Washington, DC (March 10, 2015) – The National Right to Work Foundation is offering free legal aid to Wisconsin private-sector workers seeking to exercise their right under Wisconsin’s newly-enacted Right to Work law to refrain from union membership and union dues payments.

On Monday, Governor Scott Walker signed the nation’s newest Right to Work law, effective Wednesday, March 11, 2015. Under the law, workers will no longer be required to pay union dues as a condition of employment once the current union monopoly bargaining agreement in their workplace expires.

The National Right to Work Foundation has a long history of assisting employees seeking to exercise their Right to Work rights, most recently under Right to Work provisions enacted in Indiana and Michigan. Foundation attorneys also provided free legal representation to Wisconsin public-sector employees who sought to refrain from paying union dues or fees under Walker’s 2011 public-sector union reforms, commonly referred to as «Act 10.»

Click here to read the full release.

Washington Family Child Care Providers File Federal Class-Action Lawsuit Challenging Forced Unionization

Home-based child care providers forced into SEIU ranks against their will

Olympia, WA (March 5, 2015) – Today, a group of family child care providers filed a federal class-action lawsuit challenging a 2006 law that authorizes the forcible unionization of Washington State’s 12,000 home-based child care providers.

With free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys in conjunction with the Freedom Foundation, Cindy Mentele and three other providers from around the state filed the suit against Governor Jay Inslee and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 925. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

The child care providers’ lawsuit challenges the forced-unionism scheme on the grounds that it violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of free political expression and association. National Right to Work Foundation attorneys argue that such schemes violate providers’ First Amendment right to choose with whom they associate to petition the government because the government does not have the constitutional authority to force citizens to accept its handpicked political representative to lobby itself.

Click here to read the full release.

Olympia, WA (March 5, 2015) – Today, a group of family child care providers filed a federal class-action lawsuit challenging a 2006 law that authorizes the forcible unionization of Washington State’s 12,000 home-based child care providers.

With free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys in conjunction with the Freedom Foundation, Cindy Mentele and three other providers from around the state filed the suit against Governor Jay Inslee and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 925. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

The child care providers’ lawsuit challenges the forced-unionism scheme on the grounds that it violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of free political expression and association. National Right to Work Foundation attorneys argue that such schemes violate providers’ First Amendment right to choose with whom they associate to petition the government because the government does not have the constitutional authority to force citizens to accept its handpicked political representative to lobby itself.

The child care providers seek repayment of union fees illegally taken from them by the Governor, and given to SEIU Local 925, over the past three years.

Home-based child care and personal care providers, with Right to Work Foundation attorneys’ assistance, have challenged similar forced-unionization-by-government-fiat schemes in several states across the country, including Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and New York. On June 30, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in Harris v. Quinn striking down the Illinois scheme, ruling that individuals who receive state subsidies based on their clientele cannot be forced to pay compulsory union fees. The Court did not rule on whether providers can be forced to accept the union’s so-called representation under a monopoly bargaining scheme. The next day, the Court cleared the path for 50,000 home child care providers in Michigan to receive a refund of union dues illegally taken during Michigan’s now-defunct unionization scheme.

«Citizens have the power to select their political representation in government, not the other way around,» said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. «This scheme, which forces small business owners, and even grandma taking care of her grandchildren, into SEIU union political association is a slap in the face of fundamental American principles we hold dear.»

More Oil Refinery Workers File Federal Charge in Response to Steelworker Union Strike Intimidation

Union officials threatening workers who exercise their rights to continue working during union boss-ordered strike

Houston, TX (March 4, 2015) – In the wake of a recent federal charge filed against a local Steelworker union for intimidating Shell oil workers for refusing to abandon their jobs during the ongoing, highly-publicized United Steelworker (USW) union-instigated strike, three additional Houston-based oil refinery workers have filed a federal charge against the union.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, LyondellBasell Industries employees Yvonne Hendrix, Richard Jackson, and Kyle MacDonnell filed the unfair labor practice charge Monday with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The charge alleges that USW Local 13-227 union officials are resorting to harassing, coercing, and threatening workers for refusing to abandon their jobs. Over the course of several meetings, a USW Local 13-227 union official has threatened workers who continue to work during the strike with job termination and other retaliation. Further, USW Local 13-227 union officials have allowed a union Facebook page to be used to communicate threats against workers who continue to work during the strike, and against employees who are contemplating returning to work.

Click here to read the full release.

Houston, TX (March 4, 2015) – In the wake of a recent federal charge filed against a local Steelworker union for intimidating Shell oil workers for refusing to abandon their jobs during the ongoing, highly-publicized United Steelworker (USW) union-instigated strike, three additional Houston-based oil refinery workers have filed a federal charge against the union.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, LyondellBasell Industries employees Yvonne Hendrix, Richard Jackson, and Kyle MacDonnell filed the unfair labor practice charge Monday with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The charge alleges that USW Local 13-227 union officials are resorting to harassing, coercing, and threatening workers for refusing to abandon their jobs. Over the course of several meetings, a USW Local 13-227 union official has threatened workers who continue to work during the strike with job termination and other retaliation. Further, USW Local 13-227 union officials have allowed a union Facebook page to be used to communicate threats against workers who continue to work during the strike, and against employees who are contemplating returning to work.

Last week, Foundation attorneys also assisted Joseph Smith of Friendswood, Texas in filing a federal charge against the USW Local 13-1 union on similar grounds. At Smith’s plant in Deer Park, roughly 150 of the approximately 800-large workforce have continued to work during the strike, with many resigning their membership in the USW Local 13-1 union, as is their right under federal labor law and Texas’ popular Right to Work law. As the stream of workers resigning union membership and returning to work grows every day, it was reported that USW Local 13-1 union officials turned off their fax machine in an attempt to stop workers from exercising their right to resign and return to work.

«As USW union bosses lose support from rank-and-file workers, they have resorted to threats and intimidation against workers who have decided not to toe the union boss line and instead provide for their families,» said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work. «It is indefensible that workers who resign their union membership and continue to work to support their families in defiance of the USW boss-ordered strike are now being harassed and threatened for exercising their rights.»

In response to the high-profile strike, the National Right to Work Foundation recently issued a special legal notice to workers affected which lays out their rights under federal labor law: https://www.nrtw.org/en/special-legal-notice-usw-refinery-strike-02032015.

Worker Advocate to Testify before Congress on the Dangers of the NLRB’s New Ambush Election Rules

Foundation staff attorney explains how rule changes undermine workers’ rights

Washington, DC (March 3, 2015) – Tomorrow morning, National Right to Work Foundation staff attorney Glenn Taubman will testify before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions on the dangers of the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) recently-enacted regulations that will further give union organizers the upper hand over independent-minded employees during unionization campaigns.

The Subcommittee, which is chaired by Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), will focus on a series of election rule changes designed to dramatically shorten the time individual workers have to share information with their coworkers about the effects of unionization. The regulations also require employers to hand over workers’ private information to union organizers, including their phone numbers and email addresses.

Taubman, a veteran Foundation staff attorney, will contend that dramatically shortening the period before unionization elections will hurt workers’ ability to cast an informed vote.

Click here to read the full release.