WARWICK, RI \u2013 Jeanette Geary finally achieved a total victory in her 11-year legal battle against union bosses. She and 99 other current and former nurses at Kent Hospital in Rhode Island received refunds of forced dues that were illegally used to support union lobbying in state legislatures. Foundation attorneys represented Geary throughout her fight. Geary\u2019s journey began when she grew frustrated with United Nurses and Allied Professionals (UNAP) union bosses in her workplace. \u201cI realized what the union was doing,\u201d Geary explained. \u201cThe union leadership had no interest in nurses or our professional work. Their only interest was collection of dues and fees.\u201d Geary resigned her union membership, but union dues were still extracted from her paycheck because Rhode Island is a forcedunionism state that lacks Right to Work protections. However, thanks to the Foundation-won CWA v. Beck Supreme Court decision, nonmember workers can only be forced to pay fees for union activities \u201cgermane\u201d to union monopoly bargaining. They cannot be forced to pay the portion of dues that funds activities like union lobbying. Nurse Harassed for Standing Up to Union Bosses Geary demanded a breakdown of the union\u2019s expenditures, but union bosses refused to give her a legally required independent auditor\u2019s verification of how they calculated non-members\u2019 reduced forced fees. Like many who speak up against union bosses, Geary became a target for union harassment. \u201cThey laughed at me. They had their workplace reps ridicule me on the job and tell me I could file grievances that would be thrown away and said so with a big smile,\u201d Geary recalled. In 2009, Geary filed federal charges against union officials. The trial revealed UNAP officials were charging non-member nurses for lobbying in state legislatures. Despite the Supreme Court\u2019s clear mandate in Beck that non-members\u2019 money could not be used to fund political causes, union lawyers argued the lobbying was \u201cgermane\u201d to the union\u2019s monopoly bargaining. Thanks to delays caused by President Obama\u2019s illegal recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Geary had to file two petitions with the U.S. dues can\u2019t be taken from public workers without a freely given waiver of these rights, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals let \u201cescape periods\u201d survive in each of these cases. The majority of these cases are class-action lawsuits, and thus seek to reclaim for both petitioners and their coworkers money union bosses seized from their paychecks after they resigned union membership and tried to exercise Janus rights. AGs from Alaska and 15 Other States Aid Worker Fight Against \u2018Escape Periods\u2019 Even though the Alaska employees\u2019 case names the State of Alaska a defendant for its role in enforcing \u201cescape periods,\u201d the state government\u2019s top lawyer — Attorney General Treg Taylor — filed a brief backing the employees\u2019 opposition to the restrictive schemes. The State of Alaska, \u201calthough appearing as a respondent here, urges the Court to grant the petition to protect the First Amendment rights of government employees in Alaska and throughout the country,\u201d the brief says. Taylor is also defending an Alaska executive order forbidding \u201cescape periods,\u201d which is currently enjoined in state court. Additionally, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and attorneys general from 14 other states submitted an amicus brief in late November throwing the weight of their states behind the Alaska workers. \u201cAll over the country, American public workers are making it clear that they will not stand by while union bosses and their allies in government play deceptive games with their First Amendment Janus rights, just so they can fill union coffers with more money from dissenting workers,\u201d commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. \u201cThis message should now be overwhelmingly evident to the Supreme Court, which has an opportunity to rectify lower courts\u2019 gross misinterpretations of Janus, and clarify that public workers\u2019 First Amendment rights can\u2019t be limited to arbitrary windows created by union bosses or their political allies designed to undermine workers\u2019 rights recognized in the Janus decision.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"