**Los Angeles, CA (June 23, 2006)** — With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, hundreds of University of California employees across the state won a major settlement agreement from the University Professional and Technical Employees union, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), Local 9119 union. Under the agreement, CWA union officials agreed to stop violating nonmembers’ rights by illegally seizing forced union dues from their paychecks without due process.

The settlement brings to a close a protracted legal battle in which over 200 University of California research professionals, technical employees, and healthcare professionals filed hundreds of individual unfair labor practice charges at all three of the state’s Public Employment Relations Board regional offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento – and also resolves another 200 employees’ challenges filed with an independent arbitrator.

The employees filed the charges and challenges after the CWA union hierarchy unlawfully deducted forced union dues from their paychecks without proper procedural protections to prevent the monies’ use for activities unrelated to collective bargaining, such as union political activities.

After Foundation attorneys agreed to represent the employees, CWA union officials quickly buckled and inked a settlement agreement under which they agree to end their unlawful practices and honor the constitutional rights of nonmember employees. Consequently, the union hierarchy is forced to refund all of the more than 400 nonmembers’ agency fees paid or deducted between July 1, 2004 and June 30, 2005, plus interest – an amount estimated to exceed $175,000.

“This victory is an incremental yet important step toward limiting the power of union officials to shake down workers for political contributions,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “As long as California workers labor under a system of compulsory unionism, however, such abuses will inevitably continue.”

The actions of CWA union officials violated First Amendment protections articulated in the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court decision in Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson. Under Hudson, union officials must disclose an independent audit of their expenses – justifying the lawfulness of the disbursements charged to nonmembers – before seizing any forced union dues from employees who choose to refrain from formal union membership.

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.