San Jose, California (October 5, 2005) – Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation, made the following statement in response to this afternoon’s U.S. District Court ruling not to grant a temporary restraining order to immediately freeze forced union dues seizures spent for politics while the class action lawsuit is pending. In declining to issue a temporary restraining order, however, U.S. District Court Judge James Ware invited briefing as to whether the Court should issue a preliminary injunction.

The lawsuit filed by teachers and faculty seeks to block union officials’ use of a mandatory dues increase to pay for the unions’ $50 million campaign to influence the November special election.

“Since the educators filed their suit, California Teacher Association (CTA) union officials have already backpedaled and indicated they will now, in fact, allow non-union members to get their $60 dues ‘assessment’ back this fall. But, at the same time, they stand firm in refusing even to inform the 300,000+ members of their right to resign and object.

“While the Court has failed to take swift action to stop the ongoing violation of CTA members’ constitutional rights while this class-action suit is pending, we believe that the educators will ultimately win their legal case because Supreme Court precedents are on their side.

“The Supreme Court has ruled that all potential objectors are entitled to financial disclosure and notice that they can resign from union membership and prevent the use of their forced dues for politics.
The CTA has never notified California teachers of these rights. This case shows the injustice of forced unionism in California. Even though we are confident the teachers will ultimately prevail in their case, the results of the November special election influenced by use of their forced dues payments cannot be undone.

“California’s teachers should not be forced to serve as ATM machines for union officials, yet last week, the forced dues increase began coming out of their paychecks automatically to pay for partisan union electioneering. CTA officials have also announced their intention to raise $40 million more to influence the November election, and California teachers may foot an even higher bill.

“Since the court has chosen not to require that union officials immediately fess up to educators about their legal rights, the National Right to Work Foundation will be committing significant resources in the coming weeks to inform educators of their right to object to funding partisan politics with their forced union 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 about 200 cases nationwide per year.