Union bosses and company blocked Blue Cross Blue Shield employees’ attempt to assert their rights under Michigan’s recently-enacted Right to Work law

Grand Rapids (June 2, 2016) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, two Grand Rapids Blue Cross Blue Shield employees have filed federal unfair labor practice charges against their employer and UAW Local 2145. According to Rayvonne Brown and Jennifer Smith, union officials continued to collect money from their paychecks after they had formally notified the union of their decision to opt out of further dues payments.

In December 2015, the contract between Blue Cross Blue Shield and UAW Local 2145 expired. The contract included a provision that required all employees to pay union fees as a condition of employment. Once the contract expired, however, Brown and Smith notified the union and their employer that they were revoking their dues authorization and opting out of paying union dues.

Under Michigan’s recently-enacted Right to Work law, no employee can be required to pay union dues as a condition of employment. Forced-dues contracts between unions and employers that were agreed to before the law was passed continue in force, but once those contracts expire, nonunion employees in the bargaining unit can no longer be required to pay union dues to keep their jobs.

Despite these legal protections, Blue Cross Blue Shield deducted union dues from Brown and Smith’s January and March paychecks, which were then give to UAW officials. Brown and Smith’s charges, which ask for the return of all illegally-seized union dues with interest, will now be investigated by the National Labor Relations Board.

“Michigan’s Right to Work law was a tremendous victory for employee rights, but the law has to be enforced if employees are to benefit from these new legal protections,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. “It is an outrage that so many workers have to take legal action just to get union officials to honor their rights under the law.”

“Any Michigan employees seeking to assert their newly-enshrined rights should contact the National Right to Work Foundation immediately for free legal aid,” Mix added.

The charges are the latest of over 30 legal cases filed by Foundation staff attorneys to enforce Michigan’s Right to Work law, which ensures that union membership and the payment of union dues are strictly voluntary. Michigan became the 24th state to pass a Right to Work law in 2012. Wisconsin and West Virginia have subsequently passed Right to Work laws.

NLRB ruling greenlights election to determine if union officials get to continue to bargain for all teachers and collect mandatory union dues

Nassau County, NY (June 6, 2016) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, 27 Evergreen Charter School employees have won the right to conduct a decertification election to decide the fate of the Evergreen Charter Staff Association-NYSUT union. The Regional Director for Region 29 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has scheduled the union decertification election for June 16, 2016.

Under the National Labor Relations Act, private-sector employees in unionized workplaces have the right to petition for a decertification election to remove a union. After 22 Evergreen employees signed and submitted an election petition to the NLRB in April, union officials attempted to head off the vote by claiming that Evergreen Charter School is a public employer, and thus outside the NLRB’s jurisdiction.

Union lawyers argued that the New York State Public Employment Relations Board has jurisdiction over Evergreen employees, an interpretation that was ultimately rejected by the NLRB, which determined that the Evergreen Charter School is a private employer. Had the union’s arguments prevailed, the school’s employees would have been forced to pursue a much more onerous and complex process to remove the unwanted union.

The scheduled decertification election will determine whether Evergreen employees can be forced to pay union dues and accept union bargaining over their salaries and working conditions. If a majority of eligible employees vote against the union, the Evergreen Charter Staff Association union will be formally removed from the school and lose its workplace privileges.

“We’re happy to report that the NLRB has rejected union lawyers’ attempt to derail the Evergreen decertification vote,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Given the fact that the NYSUT opposed the establishment of the Evergreen Charter School in the first place, it’s no surprise that these teachers and support staff are disillusioned with the union’s so-called ‘representation’.”

“Employees shouldn’t have to jump through this many hoops to get rid of one stubborn union, but Foundation staff attorneys are committed to helping these teachers and support staff navigate the decertification process and assert their right to vote out union officials whom they feel are a detriment to their school and their students,” added Mix.

SEIU filings show $32 million was seized from 80,000 providers in scheme ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2014

Chicago, IL (June 7, 2016) – The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Illinois has just denied a motion for class certification in a lawsuit filed by National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys for three Illinois homecare providers.

The lawsuit is a continuation of Harris v. Quinn, a Foundation Supreme Court victory in 2014 that held that the collection of forced union dues from home-based caregivers violated their First Amendment rights. After the Supreme Court’s June 2014 ruling the case, now designated Riffey v. SEIU, was remanded to the District Court to settle the remaining issues, including the question of whether the SIEU would be forced to return over $30 million dollars in dues confiscated from nonmembers as part of its unconstitutional scheme.

The latest decision can be appealed to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, and the homecare providers’ Foundation-provided attorneys are now considering when to file an appeal.

Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, issued the following statement on the ruling:

“The United States Supreme Court ruled that the SEIU had illegally confiscated union dues from thousands of Illinois homecare providers, but this ruling denies those same caregivers the opportunity to reclaim money that never should have gone to the SEIU in the first place. If this order stands it will allow the SEIU to have violated the First Amendment rights of over 80,000 homecare providers with impunity.

“If SEIU bosses are not required to return the money they seized in violation of homecare providers’ constitutional rights, it will only encourage similar behavior from union officials eager to trample the First Amendment to enrich themselves over the objections of tens of thousands of homecare providers.”