Bridgeport, Connecticut (March 29, 2005) — A U.S. District Court Justice has approved a settlement of a case brought by six Bridgeport firefighters in a federal class-action lawsuit against the City of Bridgeport, a union, and top city officials for violations of their First Amendment rights by seizing compulsory union dues from the paychecks of scores of nonunion firefighters.

After receiving free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, the firefighters’ won a settlement forcing International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) union Local 834 officials to return $45,000 in union dues unlawfully seized between June 2002 and October 2004.

Union officials acted in concert with the City of Bridgeport and seized compulsory union dues from the firefighters who are not formal union members without first providing an adequate independent audit of the union’s expenditures, as required by law. The suit also named Bridgeport Mayor John Michael Fabrizi, among other top city officials, for the unconstitutional acts.

“IAFF union officials simply want nonunion firefighters to shut up and pay up,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Union operatives should not be allowed trample on firefighters’ constitutional rights by unlawfully seizing dues from their paychecks.”

The firefighters filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut in June 2004. They alleged that IAFF Local 834 union officials seized the forced union dues without first providing the financial disclosure and procedures required by a long-standing U.S. Supreme Court ruling interpreting that the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution protect public employees from demands to pay for union political activity and other activities they may oppose.

As a result of the case’s class-action status, the settlement provides restitution for all firefighters in the bargaining unit who are not formal members of IAFF Local 834 in the amount of forced dues collected prior to October 2004. At the same time, the settlement forces IAFF officials to cease deducting dues from those who not members until such time as the city and union comply with all of the constitutional requirements to collect dues.

Under the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court decision Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson, before collecting any forced dues, union officials must first provide an audited disclosure of the union’s expenses. Such audits are intended to ensure that forced union dues seized from nonunion public employees do not fund union activities unrelated to collective bargaining.

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.