CUNY Professors’ Lawsuit Challenging Forced Association with Antisemitism-Linked Union Continues at Second Circuit
City University professors challenge NY law that forces them to be represented by hostile union hierarchy
New York, NY (June 5, 2023) – Six City University of New York (CUNY) professors have taken their federal civil rights lawsuit against Professional Staff Congress (PSC) union officials to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The professors, Avraham Goldstein, Michael Goldstein, Frimette Kass-Shraibman, Mitchell Langbert, Jeffrey Lax, and Maria Pagano, charge PSC union bosses with violating the First Amendment by forcing them to accept the union’s monopoly control and “representation” – “representation” the professors not only oppose, but find extremely offensive and in contradiction to their personal beliefs.
The professors, five of whom are Jewish, are receiving free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation and The Fairness Center. They seek to overturn New York State’s “Taylor Law,” which grants public sector union bosses the power to speak and contract for workers, including those that want nothing to do with the union. In addition to opposing the union’s extreme ideology, the professors oppose being forced into a “bargaining unit” of instructional staff who share the union’s beliefs or have employment interests diverging from their own.
The professors’ opening brief at the Second Circuit argues that a lower court’s reliance on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1984 decision in Minnesota State Board for Community Colleges v. Knight was misguided. Knight, the brief states, dealt primarily with public employees’ ability to participate in union meetings and not with the professors’ legal argument that being forced to accept the bargaining power and “representation” of union officials is a violation of First Amendment free association rights.
The brief also maintains that the Supreme Court in the 2018 Foundation-won Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision acknowledged that public sector monopoly bargaining is “a significant impingement on associational freedoms.” Other Supreme Court decisions as early as 1944 also recognized problems with monopoly bargaining, the brief notes, including the Steele v. Louisville & Nashville Railway Co. decision, in which African-American railway workers challenged a rail union’s racially discriminatory hiring and promotion policies.
“If the First Amendment prohibits anything, it prohibits the government from dictating who speaks for citizens in their relations with the government,” reads the brief. “The State Appellees and CUNY thus necessarily infringe on the Professors’ speech and associational rights by forcing them to accept a hostile political group, which they view as anti-Semitic, as their exclusive agent for speaking and contracting with their government employer.”
Lawsuit: Professors Compelled to Associate with Union Even After Bullying and Threats
The professors’ original complaint recounted that several of the professors chose to dissociate from PSC based on a June 2021 union resolution that they viewed as “anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish, and anti-Israel,” and a host of other discriminatory actions perpetrated by union agents and adherents.
The complaint said Prof. Michael Goldstein “experienced anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist attacks from members of PSC, including what he sees as bullying, harassment, destruction of property, calls for him to be fired, organization of student attacks against him, and threats against him and his family.” Goldstein has needed a guard to accompany him on campus, the complaint noted.
Prof. Lax, the complaint explained, already received in a separate case a letter of determination from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) “that CUNY and PSC leaders discriminated against him, retaliated against him, and subjected him to a hostile work environment on the basis of religion.” Prof. Lax “has felt marginalized and ostracized by PSC because the union has made it clear that Jews who support the Jewish homeland, the State of Israel, are not welcome,” said the complaint.
Suit Seeks Overturn of New York State Law Forcing Union Power on Professors & Damages
The lawsuit seeks to stop the defendants from “certifying or recognizing PSC, or any other union, as Plaintiffs’ exclusive representative without their consent” and “enforcing any provisions…that require Plaintiffs to provide financial support to PSC.” It also demands that the court declare “Section 204 of the Taylor Law…unconstitutional under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution to the extent that it requires or authorizes PSC to be Plaintiffs’ exclusive representative…”
“No American worker should be forced to associate with union officials and union members that openly denigrate their identities and deeply-held beliefs,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Yet, New York State’s Taylor Law grants union officials the power to force dissenting workers under the ‘exclusive representation’ of a union hierarchy. As these CUNY professors have experienced, granting union officials the power to nullify public employees’ free association rights in this way breeds serious harm and discord among employees.”
“Not just in Janus v. AFSCME, but in decisions going back decades, the Supreme Court has questioned the constitutionality of union monopoly bargaining,” Mix added. “Federal courts must take action to ensure that government employees can freely exercise their right to dissociate from an unwanted union for religious, cultural, financial, or any other reasons.”
“Our clients want to vindicate their First Amendment rights and win their independence from a union they believe hates them,” commented Fairness Center President and General Counsel Nathan McGrath. “If successful, their lawsuit could transform the relationship between public-sector unions and employees in New York and, potentially, beyond.”
National Right to Work Foundation Issues Legal Notice to Starbucks Employees as Multiple Locations Seek to Boot Unions
Notice contains details on how employees can petition for union decertification vote, as well as how to resign membership and cut off dues
Washington, DC (May 23, 2023) – After being in contact with multiple Starbucks workers, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation today issued a special legal notice to Starbucks employees who are interested in removing union control in their workplace. The legal notice is available at the Foundation’s website here: https://www.nrtw.org/starbucks/.
The Right to Work Foundation is the nation’s premier organization dedicated to defending workers whose rights have been violated by forced unionism abuses. Foundation staff attorneys are already assisting Starbucks employees at the Starbucks Reserve Roastery in Manhattan, NY, in exercising their right to vote unwanted union officials out of their store, and similar efforts are taking place at Starbucks locations in Buffalo, NY, and Rochester, NY. At the New York Roastery location, a majority of the employees signed the petition asking for a vote to remove the union.
“The Foundation wants you to learn about your legal rights from independent sources,” the notice says. “You should not rely on what self-interested union officials tell you.”
In Addition to Seeking to Vote Out Union, Employees Can Take Individual Steps to Resist Union Activity
The legal notice advises Starbucks workers of their right to petition the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a vote among employees on whether a resident union should be ousted from the workplace, a process known as a decertification vote. However, it cautions workers that this process is complex and prone to manipulation from union officials, and for that reason workers should consider obtaining Foundation legal aid in navigating the process.
The notice also advises employees of actions they can take as individuals to disaffiliate from the union, including how to exercise their right to resign union membership, revoke cards authorizing direct union dues deductions, and potentially stop funding union activities. The notice provides sample letters to workers interested in exercising those rights.
“If you work in a state that lacks Right to Work protections, union officials with a monopoly bargaining agreement can unfortunately force you to pay some union fees in order to keep your job. However, there are still limitations on how much and under what circumstances you can legally be required to pay,” the notice reads, while counseling such workers of their right to cut off dues payments for union politics as per the Foundation-won CWA v. Beck Supreme Court decision. “If you work in a state with Right to Work protections, you have a right to opt-out of all union financial support.”
“As many Starbucks locations pass the one-year anniversary of unionization, Starbucks employees are now able to hold votes to remove the union, a right many are now seeking to exercise,” commented National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation President Mark Mix. “No one who claims to be pro-worker should oppose simply letting these workers hold a secret ballot vote to determine if they oppose union affiliation.”
“Unfortunately, between union officials who prioritize their own power over the wishes of rank-and-file workers, and an NLRB that is actively seeking to make it harder for workers to even hold decertification votes, it is more important than ever that workers fully understand these legal issues,” Mix added. “That’s why workers should carefully read our legal notice and know that they can request free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation for help in protecting their legal rights.”
Orlando Airport Fueling Employees Successfully Oust USWU Union Officials Who Tried to Stop Union Decertification Vote
USWU outrageously claimed that vote among approximately 1,000 PrimeFlight employees across country was necessary to boot union just at Orlando Airport
Orlando, FL (May 2, 2023) – Robert Anderson and his fellow PrimeFlight Aviation Services fueling employees at Orlando International Airport have successfully ousted United Service Workers Union (USWU) Local 74 union officials from their workplace. Anderson and his colleagues received free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation in removing the unwanted union.
Anderson and his coworkers submitted a majority-backed petition to the National Mediation Board (NMB) in March 2023. The petition contained enough employee support to prompt the agency to conduct a union “decertification” investigation at his facility. However, union officials objected to letting the employees vote, outrageously claiming that Anderson and his coworkers were actually part of a nationwide “system” and the union decertification election would need to be conducted among almost every PrimeFlight employee in the country – even though Anderson and his colleagues simply wanted to dismiss the union from their Orlando workplace alone.
Foundation Attorneys Expose Outrageous Union Scheme to Stop Vote
Foundation attorneys refuted union arguments in a position statement, contending that the union’s position was completely at odds with the Railway Labor Act’s (RLA) basic purposes, which ensure that “employees can [choose] to join or refrain from unionization, and that they are entitled to the fullest freedom in making that choice.” The RLA governs private sector labor relations in the air and rail industries.
“The [union] reasoning is both illogical and devastating to employee free choice,” said Foundation attorneys’ statement. “Local 74 would require some 1,000 PrimeFlight fuelers, at all locations, to weigh-in on whether the employees at one specific location in Orlando should be represented by Local 74, even though those other employees cannot possibly have any…interest in the representational choices of the Orlando location’s employees.”
Further, Foundation attorneys pointed out that USWU union officials’ position was especially suspect considering “the fuelers at other locations are represented by unions other than Local 74” (emphasis added) and have completely different contracts and working conditions. Had the USWU officials’ position been adopted, in order to eject a union for workers at one location, the workers would need signatures from hundreds or potentially thousands of workers at other locations. That could include not only workers covered by different unions with entirely different monopoly bargaining contracts, but also nonunion workers at other facilities who are already free to negotiate their own terms of employment.
USWU Officials Back Down, Abandon Orlando Airport
After Foundation attorneys countered the union’s contentions, USWU union officials quickly backed down and disclaimed interest in maintaining power over Anderson and his coworkers. Likely wanting to avoid a vote of the rank-and-file fueling employees who petitioned for the decertification vote, union officials issued a letter on April 21, 2023, declaring that the union “abandons its representative status and disclaims interest in the aforementioned employees.”
The NMB closed the case on April 26, 2023, meaning Anderson and his fellow fuelers are officially free of the union.
Foundation attorneys have continuously sought to safeguard workers’ right to decertify unwanted unions at the NMB. In 2020, the Foundation filed a brief at the agency opposing the AFL-CIO’s effort to bring back the arbitrary “straw man” rule, which required workers interested in decertifying a union to solicit support for a fake “straw man” union just to vote out incumbent union officials.
“USWU union officials’ ridiculous proposal of a nationwide decertification vote disrespects the rights of rank-and-file employees to vote out union bosses they oppose,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “We applaud Mr. Anderson and his fellow airplane fuelers for exercising their rights even in the face of such opposition from USWU union officials, but there are likely many other employees across the country whose efforts to oust an unpopular union have been stifled by such legal maneuvering. National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys stand ready to aid employees who experience similar barriers to their rights.”
National Right to Work Foundation Files Brief at Michigan Supreme Court Blasting TPOAM Union’s Forced Fee Scheme
Union “fee-for-grievance” scheme unlawfully pressures employees to become union members; Right to Work repeal does not make scheme legal
Lansing, MI (April 21, 2023) – The National Right to Work Foundation filed an amicus brief at the Michigan Supreme Court, opposing a scheme used by Technical, Professional, and Officeworkers Association of Michigan (TPOAM) union officials that weaponizes the union’s control over the grievance process to force nonmember public employees into paying fees to the union.
The case at issue is Technical, Professional and Officeworkers Association of Michigan (TPOAM) v. Daniel Lee Renner, in which Saginaw County employee Daniel Renner is challenging TPOAM union bosses’ so-called “fee-for-grievance” arrangement. Under it, union officials deprive Renner and other nonmember public employees of any power to file grievances themselves, and instead mandate that they pay fees to use the union’s grievance system – fees which often amount to a sum far greater than union dues.
Both the Michigan Employment Relations Committee (MERC) and the Michigan Court of Appeals have already rejected union officials’ arguments that they can refuse to file grievances for nonmembers unless nonmembers pay union fees. In Renner’s case, union officials demanded $1,290 from him simply to process his grievance to the first stage. Additionally, the union made clear to Renner that if the actual costs were higher as the proceeding continued, he would be responsible for more payments.
The current filing is the second amicus brief that the Foundation has submitted in the case. Notably, it addresses how Michigan legislators’ recent move to repeal the state’s popular Right to Work laws does not save the “fee-for-grievance” scheme from illegality. Michigan’s Right to Work protections prohibit union bosses from forcing workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment, and remain valid until the repeal takes effect 90 days after the legislature adjourns, which is expected to be sometime in early 2024.
Forcing Nonmembers to Pay into Union Grievance System Violates Free Choice Rights
The brief refutes union arguments that the “fee-for-grievance” scheme does not restrain or coerce Renner or other union nonmembers in violation of their right under Michigan’s Public Employment Relations Act (PERA) to refrain from union activity. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the federal law that PERA is based on, has consistently been interpreted “more broadly than simply prohibiting union or employer violence or heavy handed reprisals,” the brief points out.
The brief notes that the 1953 National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) case Hughes Tool Co. specifically held that a union’s refusal to process a nonmember’s grievance because he did not pay a fee violates workers’ right to refrain from union activity under the NLRA. “The NLRB has consistently reaffirmed these principles and Hughes Tool remains good law today,” the brief says.
In addition to ignoring a long line of NLRB precedents, the brief concludes, “TPOAM cavalierly defends its illegal fee on the basis that Renner made a choice to be a nonmember and he is the one requesting TPOAM assistance.” However, because Renner has a right under Michigan law to abstain from union activity, “[t]he fact TPOAM treated him differently because he exercised that statutory right is evidence it committed an unfair labor practice, not a defense.”
“TPOAM union officials’ scheme forcing nonmember public employees to pay into a union grievance system is illegal, just as it was both before and during Right to Work’s enactment in Michigan,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “As the Foundation’s amicus brief shows, TPOAM’s position ignores mountains of precedent and lets union bosses keep mandating fees designed to force dissenting workers into full union membership, in obvious violation of their rights.”
“Michigan public employees should also know that, as per the landmark Foundation-won Janus v. AFSCME U.S. Supreme Court decision, they can’t be fired for refusal to join or financially support a union,” Mix added.
Northern PA Metal Worker Prevails in Federal Case Charging CWA Union with Illegal Dues Deductions
CWA officials also refused worker’s membership resignation and sought to force him to remain union steward
Galeton, PA (March 3, 2023) – Curtis Coates, an employee of metal corporation Catalus, has successfully forced Communications Workers of America (CWA) union officials to stop illegally seizing money from his paycheck for union politics and ideological causes. National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys represented Coates for free before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Coates charged CWA union officials in May 2022 with unlawfully snubbing both his request to resign from his position as a union shop steward and his request to formally end his union membership. Full union dues deductions also continued to flow out of his paycheck even after his requests. Coates argued that CWA bosses violated his rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
Because Pennsylvania lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, unions can legally coerce workers into paying union fees just to keep their jobs even if they choose not to become union members. However, under the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in CWA v. Beck, won by Foundation attorneys, this is limited to only the part of union dues that union officials claim goes toward a union’s core “representational” functions, and excludes deductions for union political or ideological activities. In contrast, in states with Right to Work protections, union membership and all union financial support are both strictly voluntary.
A Foundation-won settlement now requires CWA union officials to post a notice at Coates’ workplace declaring that they “will not fail and refuse to honor your request to resign your union membership,” and “will not fail and refuse to honor your request to resign your role as a union steward.” CWA union officials have also stopped siphoning money for union politics and ideological activities from Coates’ wages.
CWA Forced Dissenting Worker to Remain Shop Steward, Took Full Dues Illegally from Paycheck
According to his charge, Coates sent a message to CWA union officials on October 20, 2021, declaring that he was resigning from his position as shop steward and terminating his union membership. A union official rebuffed both of Coates’ requests the next day, insisting that he had to remain both a union member and a shop steward.
In December 2021, January 2022, and February 2022, Coates followed up with union officials several times via email and mail. He asked when union officials would cease taking dues money from his wages and what process he had to follow to revoke his dues deduction authorization.
Coates’ charge asserted that CWA union officials, by refusing his repeated requests to resign his union membership, violated his rights under Section 7 of the NLRA, which recognizes workers’ right to “refrain from any or all” union activities.
Foundation President: No Place for Compulsory Union Support in Federal Law
“CWA officials summarily denied Mr. Coates’ valid exercise of his right to refrain from union membership, unlawfully seized money for union politics, and even forced him to remain a union shop steward,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “The extreme aversion CWA union officials seem to have to any kind of dissociation with the union shows where their focus lies: maintaining forced worker subsidization of union activities and not on respecting workers’ individual rights.”
“Such union malfeasance is only buoyed by federal labor law, which permits states to deny Right to Work protections to private sector workers,” Mix added. “No American worker should be forced to fund any kind of unwanted union purpose as a condition of keeping his or her job, which is why securing Right to Work protections for all Americans is absolutely vital.”
Western Louisiana Chemical Workers Vote Out Unpopular Steelworkers Union Bosses
Several more efforts by employees are ongoing across the country to vote out union officials
DeRidder, LA (October 31, 2022) – GEO Specialty Chemicals employee Ryne Fox and his coworkers have just voted unwanted United Steelworkers (USW) Local 13-725 union bosses out of power at their workplace. The vote, in which 75% of the work unit voted to remove the union, came after Fox filed a petition for a “decertification vote” with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.
Fox filed the “decertification petition” on September 24, 2022, asking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a vote among employees on whether the union should be removed. Because of a union boss-friendly NLRB policy known as the so-called “contract bar,” Fox timed the filing of the petition to coincide with the expiration of USW officials’ contract with GEO management. The non-statutory “contract bar” arbitrarily immunizes union officials from being voted out of a workplace during the life of a union contract, typically lasting one to three years.
Though many non-statutory NLRB policies like the “contract bar” still exist which prevent workers from voting out union bosses they oppose, Foundation-supported reforms adopted by the NLRB in 2020 have made the decertification process easier. The reforms pared back union officials’ ability to block decertification votes by filing so-called “blocking charges,” which often contain unrelated and unverified accusations of employer wrongdoing. Now, employees usually have a chance to at least cast ballots before any allegations surrounding the election are resolved.
Foundation Also Aiding Pennsylvania Employees in Ousting Corrupt, Unaccountable Steelworkers Officials
Fox and his coworkers’ endeavor is the third Foundation-assisted employee effort to vote out USW union officials in just the past couple months. Just last week, New Jersey building materials employee Michael Cobourn and his coworkers at Gold Bond Building Products in Burlington, NJ, voted out USW bosses by a nearly 70-30 margin. In Pennsylvania, Foundation attorneys are currently helping Carpenter Technologies/Latrobe Specialty Steel employee Kerry Hunsberger and her coworkers in their bid to decertify USW officials who blatantly ignored two votes by workers rejecting contracts union officials had negotiated.
In the situation at Hunsberger’s workplace, USW officials sought to trigger the “contract bar” and avoid an attempt by employees to vote the union out by secretly “ratifying” a contract that workers had voted against. USW bosses even held a second contract vote after the unpopular contract took effect. Union officials misled the workers, who unsurprisingly voted the contract down again, to believe their second vote would count, even though it was meaningless because the contract had already been “ratified.”
“Workers across the country are increasingly exercising their right to vote out union officials they oppose, and we at the Foundation are happy to aid workers in defending this essential element of free association,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “However, we’re also acutely aware of the obstacles that stand in the way of this freedom, and one of those, which Steelworkers officials seem to have no reservations about exploiting, is the ‘contract bar.’”
“The unjustified ‘contract bar’ is always wrong because it prevents workers from voting out unions they oppose when they want to. But even worse, this NLRB-invented doctrine actually incentivizes union officials to rush ahead and impose unpopular, self-serving contracts for the very purpose of insulating the union’s forced representation powers from a vote of the workers they claim to ‘represent,’” Mix added.
Maine Medical Center Nurses Secure Vote to Remove Unwanted Maine State Nurses Association Union Officials’ ‘Representation’
More than 500 workers petitioned for union “decertification election” seeking a vote as soon as allowed following imposition of unwanted union
Portland, ME (July 21, 2022) – Maine Medical Center nurses will soon vote in an election that could send Maine State Nurses Association (MSNA-NNU, an affiliate of National Nurses United) union officials packing from the hospital. This follows Nurse Davin Brooks’ submission of a petition containing signatures of more than 500 of his colleagues.
Brooks and his fellow nurses are receiving free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. The petition comes as Foundation staff attorneys are increasingly assisting healthcare workers in obtaining votes to remove unwanted unions, including in Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and Massachusetts.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal private-sector labor law, a duty which includes conducting votes to both certify and decertify unions. Foundation staff attorneys recommended reforms the NLRB adopted in 2020 that significantly eased processes by which workers can request a vote to remove an unwanted union. Those reforms included limiting union officials’ ability to manipulate often-unverified allegations of employer wrongdoing to stop an employee-requested union decertification vote.
Union Installed Through Dubious Mail-Ballot Process, Employees Soon Wanted Ouster
MSNA union officials were originally installed at Maine Medical Center in Portland in May 2021, after the NLRB conducted a mail-ballot union certification vote among the hospital employees. Mail-ballot NLRB elections, which before COVID were very rare and only held where in-person votes were not feasible, have lower turnout rates than standard in-person elections. Studies show mail-ballot elections benefit union organizers in part due to that lower turnout. Conducting such votes through the mail also has resulted in post office errors that disenfranchise workers, and ballot harvesting by union organizers that undermines the privacy of workers’ votes.
Since the union was installed last year, MSNA union officials and Maine Medical Center management have been unable to finalize a contract. Brooks filed the decertification petition signed by his coworkers in June, the soonest allowed by the NLRB’s “election bar” which prevents more than one such election within a year. The election is scheduled for August 17 and 18, and will be held in person at multiple Maine Medical Center locations.
“Maine Medical Center employees are more than reasonable in their desire to oust MSNA union officials, who came to power at the facility through a questionable mail-ballot vote and have failed to produce a contract in over a year,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “No healthcare worker should be subject to the monopoly control of a union that they don’t believe serves their interests. We are proud to aid Mr. Brooks and his coworkers in exercising their right to free themselves of union officials that clearly made promises to nurses on which the union could not actually deliver.”
Northern KY Worker Asks State Official to Prosecute Steelworkers Union for Violating Kentucky Right to Work Law
Union bosses illegally force workers to join and financially support union despite 2017 law making union support strictly voluntary
Frankfort, KY (June 30, 2022) – An Erlanger, KY-based employee of paper bag manufacturer Duro Hilex Poly is asking the Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet Secretary to prosecute the United Steelworkers (USW) Local 832 union and the company for violating Kentucky’s Right to Work law. The complaint notes that Local 832 officials are illegally demanding both union membership and full dues payment from workers as a condition of staying employed, a clear violation of the Commonwealth’s Right to Work law that makes union membership and financial support strictly voluntary.
The employee, Melva Hernandez, is receiving free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. She maintains that the company deducted dues money illegally from her paycheck for the union as the result of a forced unionism contract provision that cannot lawfully be enforced in Kentucky. Because the dues seizures and other conduct the union perpetrated are also illegal under federal law, she has also filed federal unfair labor practice charges at National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 9 in Cincinnati.
In Kentucky and 26 other states with Right to Work protections, union membership and union financial support are strictly voluntary and the choice of each individual worker. Private-sector workers employed in states lacking such protections must rely on federal labor law, which authorizes union officials in non-Right to Work states to demand some union “fees” from workers under their control as a condition of employment. Kentucky enacted Right to Work in 2017, one of five states to pass a Right to Work law since 2012.
Even though federal law permits compulsory union “fees” in non-Right to Work states, it prohibits compulsory union membership and requires union officials to obtain written consent from a worker before deducting union dues or fees directly from his or her paychecks.
Union Officials Forced Duro Employee into Membership & Dues Payment, Sought to Ban Speech Critical of Union
Hernandez has worked at Duro Hilex Poly since 2011 and maintains that she was “forced to become and remain a member of the union and pay dues as a condition of employment,” despite never signing any document authorizing dues payment.
Her complaint to the Kentucky Labor Cabinet recounts that she first submitted a letter to union officials in August 2021 exercising her right to end her union membership and all dues deductions to the union. A union agent rejected her request, alleging that it would only be accepted within a so-called “escape period” created by union officials.
The complaint says Hernandez resubmitted her request in April 2022 on a date falling within the “escape period,” only to be redirected by union agents to USW Local 832 President Tara Purnhagen.
After Hernandez tendered her resignation to Purnhagen, “Ms. Purnhagen scolded and harassed me, accusing me of trying to convince my fellow co-workers to drop their union memberships,” Hernandez’s complaint says. Purnhagen also forbade Hernandez from discussing with her coworkers reasons to refrain from union membership.
“As of today’s filing, the company and the union have not reimbursed me for the money seized in union dues in violation of Kentucky law,” the complaint says.
Hernandez points out in the complaint “These acts violate [Kentucky’s Right to Work law] because it is unlawful to require employees, as a condition of employment, to become or remain members of a labor organization or to pay any money to a labor organization as a condition of employment.” Her federal charges argue that union officials’ actions also infringe on her rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which protects the right of workers to abstain from union activities if they choose, and not be retaliated against by union officials for exercising or advocating that right.
Current Gubernatorial Administration in Kentucky Has Deep Ties to Big Labor
The Kentucky Labor Cabinet Secretary is responsible under state law for investigating and prosecuting violations of Kentucky’s Right to Work protections. However, the current secretary, Jamie Link, was appointed by Gov. Andy Beshear, a noted opponent of Right to Work protections. Union bosses helped propel the Beshear Administration to power with well over $1 million last election cycle. It remains to be seen whether Link will carry out his duty to enforce the Right to Work law.
“Steelworkers union officials behave as if Kentucky’s Right to Work protections don’t exist, enforcing contracts that blatantly contradict the law and demanding years of illegal dues from rank-and-file workers like Ms. Hernandez in clear violation of their rights,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Secretary Link must prosecute this rank disregard for worker freedom and demonstrate that nobody is above the law, including politically-connected union bosses.”
Worker Advocate Files Brief Defending North Carolina Law to Strengthen Farm Workers’ Right to Work Protections
National Right to Work Foundation Legal Brief Counters Farm Union Bosses’ Case Seeking Power to Impose Union, Top Down, via Lawsuits
Richmond, VA (February 24, 2022) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has filed an amicus curiae brief with the United States Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Farm Workers Organizing Committee v. Joshua Stein. This is a federal case brought by union officials seeking the power to impose monopoly union power and union dues deductions on agricultural workers and employers.
The brief defends a 2017 North Carolina law that bolsters farm workers’ Right to Work protections under the state’s longstanding and popular law. The 2017 law was passed to protect workers from having union monopoly representation foisted on them as a result of union-instigated lawsuits. The 2017 North Carolina law protects workers from union monopoly representation, the law also prevents union bosses from gaining the power to have union dues automatically deducted from agricultural workers’ paychecks.
Although they are private sector employees, agricultural workers are not covered by the National Relations Labor Act, which covers most private sector employees across the country. The Foundation brief argues this gives North Carolina the legal authority to prohibit union dues payroll deductions as a means of strengthening the existing protections of the state’s Right to Work law, which applies to agricultural workers in addition to those under NLRB jurisdiction.
The brief cites the fact that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals specifically rejected the argument that union officials have a right to payroll deduction in South Carolina Education Association v. Campbell. It also points out that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected union arguments that they had a right to payroll deductions for union political activities in Ysursa v. Pocatello Education Association.
The Foundation brief notes the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) has “no more constitutional entitlement to have agricultural employers collect money for it than FLOC has a constitutional entitlement to having the state act as its collection agent.”
The Foundation brief further notes it is “well-established that prohibitions on collective bargaining do not infringe on union constitutional rights because unions have no constitutional entitlement to act as a monopoly bargaining representative.” It follows that North Carolina is well within its authority to protect workers and employers from being subjected to such monopoly “representation” through the misuse of litigation designed to sweep farmworkers under union control.
“Apparently union bosses have become so accustomed to their government-granted monopoly bargaining powers that they believe, incredibly, that the United States Constitution entitles them to impose monopoly unionization on workers unilaterally,” said National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Although farm workers, like others, can of course associate with a union if they choose, FLOC union bosses should not be able to abuse the legal process to impose unionization on employees against their will.”
“It is entirely appropriate for North Carolina to protect agricultural workers against having a union imposed on them against their will,” added Mix. “Union association must be fully voluntary, not the result of backroom dealing in lawsuits by union officials designed to force a union on workers from the top down.”
