Washington, DC (June 25, 2013) – The National Right to Work Foundation, a charitable organization that provides free legal assistance to employees nationwide, is joining the Nevada Policy Research Institute and a host of other organizations to commemorate National Employee Freedom Week. The weeklong event is dedicated to informing employees across the country of their rights to refrain from union membership and the payment of full union dues.
Employee Freedom Week was originally conceived by the Nevada Policy Research Institute as a way to reach employees who may be unaware of or misinformed about their workplace rights. As a leading organization dedicated to fighting compulsory unionism, the National Right to Work Foundation has been involved in efforts to raise employee awareness of their rights to refrain since its founding in 1968.
The Foundation has distributed video segments online explaining worker rights, broadcast public service announcements on radio programs across the country, and published numerous opinion pieces in local and national outlets on the importance of informing workers about their rights to refrain from union membership and the payment of full union dues.
Moreover, Foundation staff attorneys have litigated for workers in all 50 states to enforce employees’ rights to opt out of union membership. In fact, the scofflaw union that originally inspired National Employee Freedom Week – the Clark County Education Association – was once the target of a Foundation unfair labor practice charge aimed at helping a Nevada teacher resign his union membership.
Foundation attorneys have won several significant Supreme Court cases that limit Big Labor’s forced-dues powers and protect workers’ rights to refrain from union activity. Last year, Foundation attorneys won the Knox v. SEIU Supreme Court case, establishing an important legal precedent outlined in the decision’s majority opinion: “When a public sector union imposes a special assessment or dues increase, the union must provide [a notice of the purpose of the assessment or increase] and may not exact any funds from nonmembers without their affirmative consent.” Because of that case, SEIU bosses must soon refund over $8 million in illegally-seized fees (including interest) to nonunion employees.
“Thanks in part to Big Labor, which thrives on misleading employees, many workers are simply unaware of their rights to refrain from union membership and the payment of full union dues,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. “In fact, workers in the 24 states with Right to Work laws cannot be required to pay any union dues as a condition of employment.”
“It’s vital that workers are informed of these important rights, and National Employee Freedom Week is a great way to spread the message,” continued Mix.
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.
