National Right to Work Foundation assists public school teacher after Grand Rapids Education Association union officials illegally demanded nearly $2,000 in forced union fees

Grand Rapids, Michigan (March 9, 2016) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, a public school teacher in Grand Rapids, Michigan has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) against the Grand Rapids Education Association (GREA) and the Michigan Education Association (MEA). The charge details how union officials violated Michigan’s public sector Right to Work law by illegally demanding compulsory union fees.

Becky Lapham is a teacher with Grand Rapids Public Schools and works at the Lincoln Developmental Center. When she resigned her membership with the GREA union, union officials informed Lapham that even as a nonmember she would be required to pay union fees until the existing monopoly bargaining agreement expired in 2015.

Once the preexisting monopoly bargaining agreement expired on June 30, 2015, Lapham became fully covered by Michigan’s public sector Right to Work law.

Despite her rights under Michigan’s public employee Right to Work law, in January 2016 Lapham received a letter from MEA union officials demanding nearly two thousand dollars in union dues. The letter included an invoice for 2015-2016 membership dues, and listed Lapham as a “member,” even though she had exercised her right to resign from formal union membership nearly a year and half earlier.

Because Lapham is not a union member and is fully covered by the Right to Work law, she cannot be required to pay any union dues or fees as a condition of employment. The MEA’s demand for forced dues prompted Lapham to file the charge which MERC will now investigate.

“Nearly every day we learn of yet another blatant violation of Michigan’s Right to Work laws by union bosses,” said Mark Mix, president of the NRTW Foundation. “The NRTW Foundation will continue to fight alongside teachers, bus drivers, civil servants, and all workers who suffer abuse from forced unionism. These sorts of schemes must not continue, because no worker should ever be forced to pay union dues or fees just to get or keep a job.”

National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys are currently litigating over 40 cases in Michigan for employees whose rights have been violated by Michigan union officials.

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.