Boeing Technician Files Federal Lawsuit Against Machinists Union Over Illegal Forced Dues Demands
Instead of reducing nonmember worker’s payments in accordance with Supreme Court precedent, union bosses charged him arbitrary higher amount
Seattle, WA (May 24, 2022) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Seattle Boeing technician Don Zueger is suing International Association of Machinists (IAM) union officials in federal court for violating his right to refrain from paying for unwanted union activities.
Zueger, who is not a member of the IAM union, is defending his right under the Foundation-won 1988 CWA v. Beck U.S. Supreme Court decision, in which the Court ruled that union officials cannot charge full union dues to objecting private sector workers who have abstained from formal union membership. Under Beck, union officials can only charge union nonmembers “fees” which exclude expenses for things like union political activities.
Because Washington State lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, nonmembers like Zueger can be forced to pay the reduced amount under Beck as a condition of keeping their jobs. In Right to Work states, in contrast, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary.
IAM Officials Continue to Overcharge Worker in Violation of His Rights
According to Zueger’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, he submitted a request to IAM union officials in February resigning his union membership and asking for his dues payments to be reduced under Beck.
Zueger’s lawsuit reports that IAM officials’ response to his Beck request claimed that, under IAM’s nationwide policy, the portion of union dues he is required to pay is based on averages of selected audits that in each case include nine other local and district IAM affiliates. This means the forced union fee amount is not calculated using the actual amounts determined in the audits of the local and district IAM affiliates that Zueger is required to fund as a condition of employment. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in Zueger’s dues reduction being significantly less than it would have been had union officials only used the audits for the district and local affiliates Zueger is forced to fund.
According to his lawsuit, union officials are still demanding from Zueger dues in excess of the amount Beck permits. The lawsuit seeks to force IAM union bosses to return all money demanded in violation of Beck and to properly reduce his future union payments in accordance with Beck.
Workers Should Be Wary of Illegal Union Dues Schemes as Union Political Activity Increases
Zueger’s lawsuit comes after union bosses spent near-record sums on politics during the 2020 election cycle. A report by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR) released in 2021 revealed that union officials’ own Department of Labor filings show about $2 billion in political spending during the 2020 cycle, primarily from dues-stocked union general treasuries. Moreover, other estimates strongly suggest that actual union spending on political and lobbying activities actually topped $12 billion in 2019-2020.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out when union officials are trying to strong-arm employees into subsidizing union activities, including politics, against their will. IAM officials’ nonmember dues scheme doesn’t pass the smell test,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “While we’re proud to help Mr. Zueger defend his Beck rights, ultimately no American worker should be forced to pay fees determined by the whims of union officials simply in order to keep their jobs.”
“This case shows why Right to Work laws are needed nationwide to ensure that the decision to join or financially support a union is strictly a matter of each individual worker’s own conscience. Workers should be especially aware of attempts by union officials to force them to fund union activities as union political activity heats up in advance of this year’s elections,” Mix added.
Ohio Public Employee Files Appeal in Class-Action Lawsuit Seeking Return of Forced Union Fees Seized in Violation of First Amendment
Lawsuit seeks refunds of forced union fees seized from nonmembers by AFSCME union bosses before Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME decision
Columbus, Ohio (July 25, 2019) – Today, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys filed an appeal in the class-action lawsuit against an Ohio affiliate of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union brought by Ohio Department of Taxation employee Nathaniel Ogle. The suit seeks the return of back dues seized by AFSCME union bosses before the Supreme Court’s 2018 Foundation-won Janus decision.
Ogle’s Foundation-provided attorneys filed the appeal to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in his lawsuit against the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association (OCSEA) union seeking the return of forced fees seized in recent years from potentially thousands of state employees who were not union members but forced to subsidize union activities in violation of their First Amendment rights. The OCSEA has monopoly bargaining power over more than 30,000 Ohio government employees.
On July 17, a federal district court granted union officials’ motion to dismiss the case despite acknowledging that “It is undisputed that OCSEA’s prior practice of collecting mandatory fair share fees violated Ogle’s First Amendment rights.”
In Janus, the Supreme Court not only struck down forced dues for public employees but made it clear that any dues taken without a government employee’s explicit consent violate the First Amendment.
Ogle’s appeal is one of several to have reached a federal court of appeals challenging the so-called “good faith” defense that union lawyers have asserted in response to worker petitions for refunds, arguing that union officials should be allowed to keep funds seized prior to the Janus decision. The Supreme Court never suggested that Janus only requires prospective relief for affected workers. Indeed, the High Court has noted in Janus that union officials have been “on notice” for years that mandatory fees likely would not comply with the High Court’s heightened level of First Amendment scrutiny articulated in the 2012 Knox v. SEIU Supreme Court decision, won by National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
“This case and dozens of others filed by Foundation staff attorneys to enforce the Supreme Court’s Janus decision demonstrate that union bosses will never willingly respect the rights of workers who are opposed to union affiliation and dues payments,” National Right to Work President Mark Mix said. “In this case and others being litigated with Foundation legal aid, workers seek the return of just a few years’ worth of unconstitutionally seized forced union fees as the statutes of limitations permit, which represents just a fraction of the fees union bosses have illegally collected from workers for decades.”
