Myrtle Beach, SC (August 1, 2013) – A local Air Transportation Systems Specialist for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has filed a federal charge against the Professional Airways Systems Specialists (PASS) union for forcing him to pay union dues even though he is not a union member.

With the help of National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Daryl Reinsch of Conway filed the charge with the Federal Labor Relations Authority earlier this week.

On October 22, 2012, Reinsch resigned membership in the PASS union and timely revoked his union dues deduction authorization effective March 1, 2013, under the contract then in effect. Union officials use union dues deduction authorizations to have dues automatically withheld from employee paychecks.

However, FAA and PASS union officials refuse to acknowledge Reinsch’s dues deduction authorization revocation because the FAA and the union hierarchy signed a new monopoly bargaining agreement in December, after Reinsch timely resigned union membership and revoked his dues deduction authorization.

As a result, the FAA continues to collect, and PASS union officials continue to accept, union dues from Reinsch’s paychecks. Because Reinsch can only revoke his dues deduction authorization in January under the new monopoly bargaining agreement, he cannot ask again to stop dues payments until next year.

“Despite this worker doing exactly what he needed to do to refrain from paying union dues, those dues continue to be taken from his paychecks,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This case displays how union officials have the power to make it difficult for workers to exercise their right to refrain from paying union dues, even in situations where workers have Right to Work protections.”

Reinsch’s charge seeks to stop the confiscation of union dues, and a refund of all illegally-seized union dues, from his paychecks.

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.

Posted on Aug 1, 2013 in News Releases