Milwaukee, Wis. (December 6, 2005) — Agreeing with arguments made in an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief filed by National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit yesterday struck down a Milwaukee County ordinance that required certain private employers contracting with the county to assist union officials in pressuring their employees into union ranks.

Foundation attorneys filed their amicus curiae brief in April in support of MMAC’s appeal of a lower court ruling in Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) v. Milwaukee County.

In its opinion, the court found that the ordinance, County “Chapter 31,” is pre-empted by federal labor law intended to protect third-party employers from pressure to unionize by other entities in concert with union officials. Foundation attorneys had pointed out that the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) clearly outlaws such requirements in contracts by private businesses, and that government entities should be held to the same standard.

Under the unconstitutional ordinance, non-union private employers wishing to receive contracts from the County to provide services for the elderly or disabled were forced to sign a so-called “labor peace” or “neutrality agreement” requiring the employers to assist union organizers by granting them sweeping access to their facilities, providing them with employees’ private personal information, and not telling workers the full story with regard to unionization.

The court found that the arguments made by Milwaukee County attorneys – that forcing employers to hand over employees to union organizers would somehow reduce work-stoppages – were unpersuasive. The Court instead saw the law as an unconstitutional attempt to preempt the NLRA. The court even pointed out that “Chapter 31” could actually increase the number of strikes. This finding of federal preemption comes as no surprise given that one of the law’s sponsors branded the law a “…fight to change the NLRA.”

“Since workers are increasingly voting down unionization, union officials are attempting to use the heavy hand of government to corral workers into union ranks,” said Foundation Vice President Stefan Gleason. “We are pleased that the U.S. Court of Appeals has put a stop to Milwaukee County’s actions, which are part of a growing national trend.”

The Milwaukee County’s Board of Supervisors passed “Chapter 31” in September 2000 over the objections of its own Corporate Counsel, who viewed the law as an impermissible regulation of private labor relations and contrary to the NLRA. If the Board had listened to its counsel rather than union lobbyists, taxpayer dollars would not have been wasted defending an ordinance that clearly violates federal labor law.

Rochester, NY (December 6, 2005) – Five Monroe County probation officers filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court today with help from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys against two government unions for violating their First Amendment rights.

The probation officers accuse officials of the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) union and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union of deliberately violating their First Amendment and due process rights by seizing forced union dues from their paychecks while refusing them a legally mandated audit of union expenditures.

The five officers, led by David Scheffer, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York seeking an injunction preventing the further collection of forced union dues, as well as full refunds and punitive damages. The officers’ suit seeks similar relief for all nonmember public employees represented by CSEA union affiliates throughout the state of New York, a number believed to be in the thousands.

Additionally, the officers charge the unions with spending their forced dues on union organizing drives, despite their objections.

“Employees should not have to go to federal court to stop use of their forced union dues for non-bargaining activities,” stated Foundation Vice President Stefan Gleason. “However, as long as public employees in New York labor under forced unionism, these abuses by union officials will inevitably continue.”

Since at least November 2002, CSEA and AFSCME union officials have illegally seized forced dues from nonmember public employees without providing a legally mandated independent audit of how the fee is calculated. Foundation attorneys point out that union officials are spending a significant portion of the forced dues seized from nonmember employees on expenses not related to collective bargaining.

The actions of CSEA and AFSCME union officials violate the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court decision in Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson, which requires union officials to provide public employees that refrain from formal union membership with an audit of union expenditures. Such audits are intended to prevent the use of public employees’ forced union dues for activities unrelated to collective bargaining, such as politics and union organizing.

Richland, WA (November 17, 2005) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys, a local home health agency nurse filed federal charges against the United Staff Nurses Union (USNU) after union officials illegally threatened to have her fired. The nurse had been asserting her right to remain free from formal union membership and her right to not pay for union political activities.

Christy Landrum, a nurse employed by Tri-Cities Home Health, filed federal unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). A letter dated October 20, 2005 from USNU officials unlawfully threatened Landrum that the only way for her to avoid being fired was to complete and return a union membership form.

Foundation attorneys allege that USNU officials deliberately misinformed Landrum of her right to refrain from formal union membership and thereby pay less than full union dues. They also failed to inform her of her right to object to paying for union political and other non-bargaining activities, failed to provide sufficient financial information (as required by U.S. Supreme Court rulings) regarding the union’s expenditures, and failed to apprise her of any internal union procedures for filing objections to the union’s calculations.

“Union officials shamelessly threatened this nurse’s job to stifle dissent,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “These heavy-handed tactics demonstrate how far union officials will go to keep a steady stream of forced union dues flowing into union coffers.”

USNU officials’ threats violate worker rights precedents recognized under the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court Communications Workers v. Beck decision. Under Beck and subsequent NLRB rulings, union officials must specifically inform employees of their right to refrain from formal union membership and pay only those proven costs directly related to collective bargaining.

“No one should be forced to pay dues to an unwanted union just to get or keep their job,” stated Gleason. “This is especially true when union officials abuse that government-granted special privilege.”

New York, NY (November 16, 2005) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys, a Saks Fifth Avenue (Saks) employee filed federal charges today against the Retail Wholesale Department Store Union Local 1102 for illegally threatening to get 150 employees fired if they assert their right to refrain from formal union membership and refuse the automatic deduction of full union dues from their paychecks.

Robert Jones, a cosmetics retail sales associate in Saks’ flagship store in Manhattan, filed federal unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after union officials illegally threatened to order the termination of roughly 150 Saks cosmetic department employees if they refuse to become formal members of the union, pay full union dues, and sign a dual-purpose membership and dues deduction “authorization” card.

Foundation attorneys cite that union officials never informed Jones, or any other similarly situated employee, of his right to refrain from formal union membership and not be forced to pay for union politics and other non-bargaining activities.

“In an effort to stuff their coffers, union officials are forcing unwanted union affiliation down the throats of intimidated employees,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “These ‘pay up or be fired’ threats demonstrate how union officials take advantage of the special privileges they have obtained under federal and state law.”

The threats of union officials violate workers’ rights recognized under the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court Communications Workers v. Beck decision. Under Beck and subsequent NLRB rulings, union officials must specifically inform employees of their right to refrain from formal union membership and pay only those proven costs directly related to collective bargaining.

Jones’ charges are the latest in a three-year legal battle between Saks employees and union officials. While union operatives won monopoly bargaining power over the department in 2002, Jones collected signatures from more than half of cosmetic department employees who would prefer to negotiate directly with their employer. Jones’ effort to decertify the union was halted under the NLRB’s “contract bar” doctrine, but he now has a deauthorization petition pending to remove the compulsory dues clause from the contract.

“No one should be forced to pay dues to an unwanted union just to get or keep their job,” stated Gleason. “This is especially true when union officials go out of their way to threaten workers who exercise their rights.”

Cincinnati, Ohio (November 11, 2005) – Acknowledging irreparable harm to the constitutional rights of roughly 100 nonunion Cincinnati firefighters, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against the City of Cincinnati and the local firefighter union late Wednesday, halting the use and further collection of their forced union dues for politics.

The ruling stems from a complaint filed by five local members of the International Association of Black Professional Firefighters who have had separate, but ongoing, disputes with the union hierarchy, including charges of discrimination that allege racist treatment of minority firefighters by union officials.

Receiving free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, the firefighters charged that IAFF Local 48 union officials acted in concert with the City of Cincinnati and seized compulsory union dues from them without first providing an adequate independent audit of the union’s expenditures, among other things. The complaint, filed in summer 2004, also named Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken, among other top City officials, for signing and enforcing an agreement with the union that resulted in the unconstitutional acts.

The firefighters filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio’s Western Division. They allege that IAFF Local 48 union officials intentionally seized the forced union dues without first providing the financial disclosure and procedures required by a long-standing U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Under that ruling, the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution protect objecting employees from demands to pay for union political activity and other non-bargaining activities.

After City and union officials renewed their contract authorizing the unlawful forced union dues seizures again without providing adequate notice and procedures, Foundation attorneys filed a renewed request for a temporary restraining order, prompting the Court to act.

“IAFF officials have repeatedly trampled the basic constitutional rights of those firefighters whose interests they claim to represent,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “So long as Ohio’s workers labor under a system of forced unionism, such abuses will inevitably continue.”

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.

Portland, OR (November 7, 2005) – A local health care worker filed federal unfair labor practice charges after union officials gained monopoly bargaining power over Kaiser Permanente employees by deceiving them into signing union “authorization” cards.

In granting Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 49 officials monopoly bargaining authority, Kaiser violated its own contract with the union which requires “private elections” for the union to be recognized, and only after such elections are requested by more than half of the employees.

Karen Mayhew, who works in the Patient Business Services Department at a local Kaiser office, obtained free legal assistance from attorneys with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation in filing the charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for herself and roughly 65 similarly situated employees.

Mayhew also filed a petition for decertification of the unwanted union within days of Kaiser’s granting SEIU officials monopoly bargaining power over the 65 workers affected. However, under the so-called “voluntary recognition bar rule,” created by the NLRB, workers cannot petition for an election for up to a year after a union gains recognition. Foundation attorneys have requested that the petition for election not be dismissed because a separate Foundation-assisted case challenging that rule’s validity is pending before the full NLRB in Washington, DC.

“All too often, union bosses use misrepresentations and coercion during union organizing drives, and we are hopeful that the federal labor board will take swift action,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Union officials’ illegal behavior shows that they do not respect the workers they seek to represent. They simply thirst for additional sources of forced union dues revenues.”

Kaiser granted recognition to SEIU union officials based on the results of this “card check” scheme, even though the agreement between the company and union specifically states that recognition will only be granted after workers have a secret-ballot election to determine majority support of the union. Furthermore, several workers will submit statements that Kaiser held a meeting with its employees during which union officials explicitly told workers that signing the “cards” was not a vote for unionization, but instead was a request to hold a secret-ballot election and receive more information.

The NLRB Region will investigate the charges and determine whether to issue a formal complaint. It will also make a decision on the disposition of the decertification petition in the coming weeks.

Sacramento, California (November 4, 2005) – Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation, made the following statement in response to this morning’s U.S. District Court ruling not to extend previous injunctive relief to protect roughly 27,000 California government employees from financing union political activities.

At the same time, to avoid a preliminary injunction as to the 8 named plaintiffs, union officials agreed in court today to give the entire forced dues increase back to those individuals.

“In declining to take swift action to protect 27,000 forced-dues-paying nonmembers of the California State Employees Association (CSEA) union, the ruling will, for now, permit union officials to spend those workers’ forced dues on politics over their objections and without their permission.

“In their lust to preserve and expand their power, union officials are thumbing their noses at employee rights and basic fairness. No employee should have to get a lawyer simply to protect their freedom of speech.

“Unfortunately, current California law stacks the deck against individual employees objecting to union activities. As a matter of practice, union officials force employees to jump over a series of hurdles designed to discourage employees from objecting.

“Today’s ruling forces roughly 27,000 California state employees to endure an ongoing violation of their most basic constitutional rights while their class action suit winds through the legal system.

“While the Court has chosen not to immediately stop the ongoing violation of CSEA nonmembers’ constitutional rights, we are confident that the public servants fighting for their rights will ultimately win their legal case. Supreme Court precedents are on their side.

“No one should have to pay dues to an unwanted union, especially when union officials continually abuse that government-granted special privilege.”

Sacramento, California – Friday morning, November 4, the U.S. District Court will consider converting a temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction that would halt the use and further collection of a mandatory dues increase levied by California State Employees Association (CSEA) union officials against 37,000 union nonmembers.

For more information, contact Stefan Gleason (916) 844-4265.

Sacramento, California (November 3, 2005) – Acknowledging irreparable harm to government employees’ constitutional rights, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order from the bench late Wednesday against the State of California and the California State Employees Association (CSEA) union, halting the use and further collection of a mandatory dues increase for politics from eight nonmember state employees.

At the same time, Morrison C. England Jr., U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of California, scheduled a hearing tomorrow morning to consider an immediate statewide injunction that would bar union officials from seizing forced dues for politics from roughly 37,000 similarly situated CSEA nonmembers who are not already named plaintiffs in the case.

The civil rights complaint, filed by nine state government employees (union members and nonmembers) on Tuesday with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, seeks a ruling that would require union officials to give over 100,000 union members and non-members due process, including proper financial disclosure, a formal notice that they may reclaim the forced dues spent for electioneering, and rebates, plus interest, to all who request it.

Since September 30, CSEA (Local 1000, Service Employees International Union) officials have been collecting a 25-36 percent (or more) mandatory dues increase earmarked to influence this year’s special election. The “Emergency Temporary Assessment to Build a Political Fight-Back Fund” was imposed on government employees for a broad range of political and other non-collective bargaining activities. Union officials openly admit the “Fund will not be used for regular costs of the union,” but for political advertising, direct mail, and get-out-the-vote activities. According to the California Secretary of State, the CSEA union and affiliates have forwarded more than $22 million to various ballot proposition committees.

A related suit, filed by Foundation-assisted teachers in September, forced California Teacher Association (CTA) union officials to allow forced dues paying nonmembers to reclaim a $60 dues increase. Similar claims on behalf of actual members of the teacher union are still pending before the court. CTA union officials, like the CSEA union, implemented their dues increase to fund electioneering to defeat several of Governor Schwarzenegger’s propositions on the November 8 ballot.

“This ruling shows that these forced dues seizures are occurring in violation of the law – and it raises questions as to the legality and legitimacy of Big Labor’s entire political campaign,” stated National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Stefan Gleason. “Union officials are fleecing public employees to finance a political agenda with which many disagree, while fighting tooth-and-nail to keep these employees in the dark about their rights.”

In the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson, the high court ruled that public employees have due process rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to be notified of how their forced union dues are spent, and how to prevent the spending of their dues for union political activities. However, CSEA union officials have not given public employees any opportunity to object to the dues increase.

A hearing on the statewide injunction will occur tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento, in Courtroom Three.

Sacramento, California (November 1, 2005) – A group of California government employees filed a statewide class-action lawsuit in federal court today against the California State Employees Association (CSEA) union seeking a ruling that would require union officials to give over 100,000 employees financial disclosure and an opportunity to reclaim a significant forced dues increase which is earmarked to influence this year’s special election.

Filed with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, the civil rights suit seeks a preliminary injunction to halt the use and further collection of a 25-36 percent (or more) mandatory dues increase imposed by CSEA (Local 1000, Service Employees International Union) union officials on members and nonmembers of the union, and an order that every member and nonmember be issued a notice and allowed to obtain a refund, plus interest.

A similar suit, filed by Foundation-assisted teachers in September, forced California Teacher Association (CTA) union officials to allow forced dues paying nonmembers to reclaim the $60 dues increase. Similar claims on behalf of members of the teacher union are still pending before the court. CTA union officials, like the CSEA union, implemented their dues increase to fund electioneering to defeat several of Governor Schwarzenegger’s propositions on the November 8 ballot.

Since September 30, CSEA union officials have imposed an “Emergency Temporary Assessment to Build a Political Fight-Back Fund” for a broad range of political and other non-collective bargaining activities. Union officials openly admit the “Fund will not be used for regular costs of the union,” but for political advertising, direct mail, and get-out-the-vote activities. According to the California Secretary of State, the CSEA union and affiliates have forwarded more than $22 million to various ballot proposition committees.

Like many public servants, the nine named plaintiffs (union members and nonmembers) object to paying for union political activities with which they disagree. They seek an order certifying their suit as a class action for all CSEA members and nonmembers.

“Public employees should not have to take legal action for union officials to stop the use of their forced dues for politics,” stated National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Stefan Gleason. “However, as long as public employees labor under a system of forced unionism, such abuses will inevitably continue.”

In the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson, the high court ruled that public employees have due process rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to be notified, as potential objectors, of how their forced union dues are spent, and how to prevent the spending of their dues for union political activities. However, CSEA union officials have failed to give public employees any opportunity to object to the dues increase.

To prevent further violation of their fundamental rights, the public employees ask that the forced dues be placed into escrow, because, as Foundation attorneys note in the employees’ complaint, they “have a First Amendment right to prevent the increase in their union dues…which conflict[s] with their own personal preferences.”