Hudson, OH (May 27, 2010) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, Janet Barlow and two of her First Student coworkers have forced Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE) Local 791 union officials to settle unfair labor practice charges. The agreement, which was originally proposed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), requires union officials to post notices informing First Student employees of their workplace rights and to allow nonunion workers to opt out of all union dues.

Because Ohio lacks a Right to Work law, employees throughout the state can be forced to pay certain union dues as a condition of employment. After OAPSE officials obstructed Barlow’s attempt to assert her constitutional right not to pay union dues for politics, however, Barlow initiated a so-called deauthorization drive to strip union officials of their powers to collect mandatory dues from First Student employees.

In February 2010, Barlow and her coworkers voted overwhelmingly to reject the forced-dues clause in OAPSE’s contract, allowing workers to opt-out of union dues at any time. Despite this result, OAPSE officials refused to allow nonunion workers to revoke their dues authorization forms, claiming that the employees’ actions were “untimely.”

First Student employees Jack Hurst and Dennis McConnaughey responded by filing additional unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB. Instead of contesting these charges, OAPSE officials agreed to a settlement brokered by the NLRB that requires union officials to allow any employee to stop paying union dues and revoke their dues authorization forms. The settlement also requires the union to post public notices informing First Student employees of their workplace rights.

“Revoking a union’s forced-dues privileges is an uphill battle to begin with, but even after they lost the election, scofflaw OAPSE bosses refused to acknowledge workers’ rights to stop paying union dues,” said Patrick Semmens, legal information director for the National Right to Work Foundation. “Employees shouldn’t have to jump through this many legal hoops just to protect their hard-earned paychecks, which is why Ohio should make union membership and dues payment strictly voluntary by adopting a Right to Work law.”

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.