Teacher Unions

Employee Lawsuit Pushes Teacher Union Bosses to Refund Dues, Allow Educators to Resign

Will Collins — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:39:23 -0500

Louisville, KY (November 18, 2009) – Facing an embarrassing legal setback from rank-and-file teachers, Jefferson County Teacher Association (JCTA) union officials announced their intention to refund several educators’ forced dues and allow public school employees to resign from union membership during a new window period and terminate certain forced dues payments.

This announcement comes on the heels of a class-action lawsuit filed by Jefferson County educators with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation. The lawsuit, filed against the JCTA union and its national affiliate, the National Education Association (NEA) union, in U.S. District Court, seeks the return of illegally seized dues, a modification of the union’s contract to allow employees to resign from union membership at any time, and a regular notice from the union brass informing public school employees of their right to refrain from formal union membership.

Teachers File Class-Action Lawsuit against Union’s Mandatory Membership and Forced Dues Policies

Will Collins — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 13:08:55 -0400

Louisville, Kentucky (September 23, 2009) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, several Jefferson County educators have filed a federal class-action lawsuit against local and national teacher unions for a series of schemes designed to force unwilling educators into full-dues paying union membership.

The lawsuit alleges that union officials routinely blocked membership resignations for years at a time, automatically enrolled new teachers in the union without their consent, and used a collective bargaining scheme to force county teachers to pay union dues.

Washington State Appeals Court Upholds Teachers’ Right to Restitution for Dues Illegally Spent By WEA Union Officials

Patrick Semmens — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:45:00 -0500

Seattle, WA (December 17, 2008) — A recent decision by a Washington State Court of Appeals, Division 2, has ruled union officials can be held liable for illegally spending teachers’ forced union dues under a now-effectively defunct campaign finance regulation.

The ruling means that thousands of Washington State teachers may receive restitution for the amount Washington Education Association (WEA) union officials illegally docked their paychecks to pay for union political expenditures. The ineffective campaign finance law at issue had been adopted in 1992 and has since been voided by the Washington State Legislature.

Coldwater Teacher Files Federal Suit Against Ohio Teacher Union Notorious for Religious Discrimination

Anthony Riedel — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:45:59 -0500

Columbus, OH (December 4, 2008) - A fourth grade teacher from the Coldwater Exempted Village School District has filed a federal suit against the state’s largest teacher union for forcing her to pay compulsory union fees to fund the union whose activities violate her religious faith.

National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys, providing the teacher with free legal aid, filed the suit this week in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division.

New Milestone: Two Million American Teachers Now Corralled Into Unions, 1.3 Million Forced to Pay Dues

Patrick Semmens — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:54:31 -0400

Washington, DC (August 19, 2008) – As the total number of America’s teachers corralled into union collectives crosses the two million mark, a national legal aid foundation and professional educator group have joined forces in a public information campaign to educate teachers laboring under compulsory unionism about their legal rights and options.

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and the Association of American Educators’ joint program will also inform teachers of professional associations that provide services to teachers who do not want to associate with the increasingly militant and political teacher unions. Many teachers object to the political agenda of teacher union bosses, while others object to knee-jerk union obstruction of school reforms that could increase the quality of education for students.

Court Strikes Down Ohio Law Forcing Public Employees to Pay Union Dues Unless They Join Certain Religions

Webmaster — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Legal Counsel for Petitioners in First Amendment Battle Comment on Supreme Court Oral Argument

Webmaster — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0500

**Washington, DC (January 10, 2007)** – Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, made the following statement regarding today’s U.S. Supreme Court oral argument in *Davenport v. Washington Education Association*. The Foundation is a non-profit organization providing free legal aid to victims of compulsory unionism abuse, and whose staff attorneys filed the case in 2003 and successfully appealed the case to the Supreme Court on behalf of lead petitioner Gary Davenport and 4,000 other nonunion Washington State teachers.

“The *Davenport* case is a defensive battle that underscores how labor law is a stacked deck against the individual. In the 28 states without Right to Work laws, millions of employees are forced to choose between paying dues to a union they do not support and losing their job. Washington is one of these states.

An Astounding 35 Groups Sign Briefs Supporting Washington Teachers in U.S. Supreme Court Controversy Over Union Dues

Webmaster — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 00:00:00 -0500

**Washington, DC (November 15, 2006)** – A diverse group of 35 legal foundations, public policy groups, and federal government agencies this week filed supporting briefs asking the nation’s highest court to reverse a novel Washington State Supreme Court decision that found a constitutional “right” for union officials to spend on politics the forced dues extracted from nonunion employees. A failure to overturn the activist Washington ruling might jeopardize America’s 22 state Right to Work laws which ban forced union dues altogether.

U.S. Supreme Court Takes Up Appeal of Controversial Ruling Granting Union Officials a 'Right' to Forced Union Dues for Politics

Webmaster — Tue, 26 Sep 2006 00:00:00 -0400

Teachers File U.S. Supreme Court Arguments Seeking Limits on Union Officials’ Access to Forced Dues

Webmaster — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 00:00:00 -0400