\nWashington, DC (February 13, 2013) \u2013 Ray LaJeunesse, Vice President and Legal Director of the National Right to Work Foundation, testified today before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce about the need to more vigorously enforce employees\u2019 rights to refrain from funding union politics.\n<\/p>\n
\nLaJeunesse, who has over 40 years of experience on the Foundation\u2019s legal staff and has argued four cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, repeatedly criticized the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for its lax enforcement of the rights of workers who wish to refrain from union affiliation. Under the Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent Communication Workers v. Beck, private sector employees have the right to refrain from paying for union activities unrelated to workplace bargaining, such as members-only events and union political activism.\n<\/p>\n
\nHowever, LaJeunesse pointed out that the Board has permitted union officials to erect a number of bureaucratic hurdles that discourage independent-minded employees from asserting their Beck rights. LaJeunesse noted that many unions now require employees to annually renew their objections to union political spending during a designated \u201cwindow period,\u201d a practice that allows union officials to continue extracting full dues from nonunion employees if they miss an arbitrary filing deadline.\n<\/p>\n
\nMoreover, the Board has recently held that nonunion employees can be charged for organizing activities and political lobbying for \u201cgoals that are germane to collective bargaining.\u201d This elastic interpretation of the Supreme Court\u2019s Beck standard undermines the ability of nonunion employees to refrain from funding ideological and organizing activities they may disagree with.\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIn sum, the problem is systemic,\u201d concluded LaJeunesse. \u201cThe Board has dismally failed to protect workers\u2019 Beck rights. Indeed, the current Board seems bent on totally eviscerating those rights.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n\u201cAs our Legal Director noted in his testimony before Congress, the Board has shown a total disregard for the rights of independent-minded employees,\u201d said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. \u201cWe hope this testimony will serve as a wake-up call to concerned citizens worried about the Board\u2019s pro-forced unionism bias.\u201d\n<\/p>\n