Springfield, VA (May 22, 2014) \u2013 The National Right to Work Foundation, a charitable organization that provides free legal assistance to employees nationwide, has just filed an amicus curiae (\u201cfriend of the court\u201d) brief in defense of Michigan\u2019s recently-enacted public sector Right to Work law. The brief was submitted to the Michigan Employee Relations Commission in a case involving the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 1085 union.<\/p>\n
Several teachers have accused AFT Local 1085 union officials of deliberately suppressing their rights under Michigan\u2019s recently-enacted Right to Work laws. Under the new laws, no employee can be forced to join or pay dues to a union just to get or keep a job. However, union contracts with forced-dues clauses that predate the enactment of the Right to Work laws are still legally enforceable until those agreements expire. <\/p>\n
AFT officials sought to take advantage of this exemption by hastily entering into a stand-alone 10- year forced-dues contract with the Taylor School District in January of 2013, just two months before Michigan\u2019s public sector Right to Work law went into effect. This agreement was not prompted by the expiration of the union\u2019s existing contract with the school district and was aimed solely at ensuring that union officials could continue to force nonunion teachers to pay dues for another ten years. <\/p>\n
The National Right to Work Foundation\u2019s brief points out that the union\u2019s actions were motivated by a desire to circumvent Michigan\u2019s recently-enacted Right to Work protections. Consequently, the opportunistic forced-dues agreement between AFT officials and the Taylor School District should not be allowed to remain in effect. <\/p>\n
\u201cUnion bosses may have lost the legislative battle over Right to Work protections for Michigan workers, but that hasn\u2019t stopped them from attempting to exploit legal loopholes to continue collecting forced dues,\u201d said Patrick Semmens, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation.<\/p>\n
\u201cMichigan\u2019s Right to Work laws won\u2019t mean anything if they\u2019re not vigorously enforced,\u201d continued Semmens. \u201cThat\u2019s why Right to Work staff attorneys are working to ensure that union officials are held accountable for their actions in court.\u201d <\/p>\n
Foundation staff attorneys are currently representing 17 employees defending or enforcing Michigan\u2019s Right to Work laws in cases before the the Michigan Employee Relations Commission and federal court. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Springfield, VA (May 22, 2014) \u2013 The National Right to Work Foundation, a charitable organization that provides free legal assistance to employees nationwide, has just filed an amicus curiae (\u201cfriend of the court\u201d) brief in defense of Michigan\u2019s recently-enacted public sector Right to Work law. The brief was submitted to the Michigan Employee Relations Commission in a case involving the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 1085 union.<\/p>\n
Several teachers have accused AFT Local 1085 union officials of deliberately suppressing their rights under Michigan\u2019s recently-enacted Right to Work laws. Under the new laws, no employee can be forced to join or pay dues to a union just to get or keep a job. However, union contracts with forced-dues clauses that predate the enactment of the Right to Work laws are still legally enforceable until those agreements expire. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[888],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n