**Olympia, WA (April 13, 2006)** – Despite admitting that they wrongly threatened and caused the firings of state government workers across Washington for refusing to pay union dues, Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) union officials this week refused a second formal request from the National Right to Work Foundation to refund all forced union dues seized under their unlawful demands. More than 20,000 additional state government employees are now paying dues to the WFSE union – an amount estimated to be more than $10 million to date – under the union hierarchy’s admittedly unlawful “pay up or be fired” threats over the past nine months.

In letters dated March 31 and April 10, National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix wrote to the WFSE union’s head lawyer demanding that his client immediately stop seizing dues and return all dues taken from workers who were not voluntary members of the union at the time the forced dues clause went into effect. “Any action that sincerely respected workers’ rights would include returning all prospective dues seizures and all forced union dues seized pursuant to the union hierarchy’s unlawful ultimatum,” wrote Mix.

In a lawsuit filed last month in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Washington with free legal assistance from the Foundation, a group of Washington state workers charged the WFSE union with denying them their constitutional due-process rights – and subsequently ordering employees across the state fired for refusing to pay compulsory union dues.

Attempting to avoid an embarrassing federal court injunction, WFSE officials claimed they will seek no further firings for the moment, and that they would ensure that all terminated workers be rehired. Foundation attorneys point out that the workers’ lawsuit will proceed as planned because they have received no concrete evidence any of the dues will be returned or multiple due-process violations halted.

“WFSE officials’ shameless refusal to return millions of dollars illegally seized from workers’ paychecks further demonstrates that they are more concerned with fattening their coffers than representing the interests of state employees,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “However, union partisans in the state legislature deserve most of the blame for foisting an unwanted union on these workers in the first place.”

In May 2005, WFSE union officials sent a mailing to state employees informing them they would be fired if they refused to pay union dues. But this notice failed to provide certain constitutionally-required safeguards of employees’ rights to ensure they are not forced to pay for more than the cost of collective bargaining. These safeguards include a verification or audit of union expenditures, as well as an explanation for the basis of the portions of the workers’ fees claimed to be chargeable. WFSE union officials are also unlawfully requiring employees who wish to object to funding political and other non-collective bargaining activities to sign automatic payroll deduction forms.

The state workers charge that the seizure of forced dues by WFSE union officials without due process is a violation of their constitutional rights articulated by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Foundation-won Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson decision. Hudson requires union officials to provide an independently-audited disclosure of their books and justify their expenditures before seizing any forced union dues from employees.

**Related Documents:**
March 31 Letter to WFSE Lawyer
News Release: WFSE Union Officials Forced to Admit Wrongdoing in Ordering State Workers Fired for Refusal to Pay Dues

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.