{"id":11016,"date":"2019-05-10T09:38:17","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T14:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=11016"},"modified":"2019-05-10T09:39:30","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T14:39:30","slug":"dewitt-michigan-union-05102019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nrtw.org\/es\/news\/dewitt-michigan-union-05102019\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor Board Ruling: Michigan Teacher Union Officials Violated Employee\u2019s Rights under Right to Work Law"},"content":{"rendered":"

In case brought by DeWitt school employee, MEA union ordered to stop illegal \u201cwindow\u201d policy blocking employees from ending dues payments<\/em><\/h3>\n

DeWitt, Michigan (May 10, 2019)<\/strong> \u2013 The Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) has ruled in favor of a DeWitt public school employee and ordered the Michigan Education Association (MEA) teacher union and its local affiliate the DeWitt Educational Support Personnel Association (DESPA) to stop enforcing an illegal policy blocking workers from exercising their rights under Michigan\u2019s Right to Work law. <\/p>\n

The ruling is a victory for DeWitt Public Schools employee Kimberly Stepanski, who filed the case with free legal representation by National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys after MEA and DESPA rejected her attempts to cut off union dues, using a union-created \u201cwindow period\u201d policy. <\/p>\n

According to the ruling, the union-created \u201cwindow period\u201d scheme \u2013 which is designed to limit workers from stopping dues payments except for a brief, union-selected time period \u2013 violates Michigan\u2019s Right to Work law. The ruling also requires MEA union officials to refund to Stepanski any dues money collected since her initial resignation and requires the union to notify other employees that the \u201cwindow\u201d policy is illegal. <\/p>\n

Stepanski first learned of the union scheme after attempting to resign and cut off dues payments in November 2013, only to be told that she was forced to pay dues because she missed the union\u2019s designated \u201cwindow period.\u201d Stepanski, who says she had never been informed of the union\u2019s policy, later sent a series of emails to the union officials reaffirming her intent to exercise her right not be a union member and to not fund any union activities, as protected by Michigan\u2019s Right to Work law for public employees. <\/p>\n

The law, which doesn\u2019t stop workers from voluntarily joining or paying dues to a union, forbids compelling \u201cany public employee to\u2026become or remain a member of a labor organization\u2026or otherwise affiliate with or financially support a labor organization.\u201d Despite that, MEA union officials rebuffed Stepanski\u2019s requests, demanding that she continue paying dues because she had not submitted her resignation request during the \u201copt-out window.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stepanski, with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, then filed a charge at MERC in 2014 challenging the coercive scheme. In the ruling issued last week, MERC determined that MEA and DESPA had illegally \u201creject[ed] [Stepanski\u2019s] revocation of her financial obligation and restrict[ed] her right to resign her membership at will.\u201d It ordered the unions to end the \u201cwindow period\u201d scheme, stop collecting dues or fees from any employee after he or she has resigned union membership, and refund to Stepanski any dues that they had illegally taken since her November 2013 resignation.<\/p>\n

The order is another recognition of the ruling in Saginaw<\/em>, a 2015 Foundation-won case where MERC first found \u201cwindow period\u201d schemes to violate Michigan\u2019s Right to Work law. That case and others brought by Foundation staff attorneys have resulted in numerous refunds for money taken under the illegal \u201cwindow period\u201d scheme.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven after National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have filed more than 100 cases against unions for forced unionism abuses since Michigan passed its Right to Work law, union bosses continue to systematically violate the rights of the very workers they claim to represent,\u201d commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. \u201cHopefully, rather than continue to fight to trap the rank-and-file into forced dues payments, Michigan union officials will finally accept that Right to Work is the law, and refocus their efforts on actually convincing Wolverine State workers to voluntarily choose union activities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In case brought by DeWitt school employee, MEA union ordered to stop illegal \u201cwindow\u201d policy blocking employees from ending dues payments DeWitt, Michigan (May 10, 2019) \u2013 The Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) has ruled in favor of a DeWitt public school employee and ordered the Michigan Education Association (MEA) teacher union and its local […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[888],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nLabor Board Ruling: Michigan Teacher Union Officials Violated Employee\u2019s Rights under Right to Work Law - National Right to Work Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nrtw.org\/es\/news\/dewitt-michigan-union-05102019\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Labor Board Ruling: Michigan Teacher Union Officials Violated Employee\u2019s Rights under Right to Work Law - 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