Posts tagged agency fees
Op-Ed: Public workers deserve full First Amendment protection from compelled union speech
January 8, 2024 // SCOTUS’s ruling in Janus logically leads to a conclusion that public workers’ income cannot subsidize a private matter on issues of substantial public concern without voluntarily waiving their First Amendment right. To voluntarily waive a fundamental right demands individual rights have been thoroughly communicated and understood. The First Amendment protects both the freedom to speak as well as the freedom to refrain from speaking. The state of Alaska urges the Supreme Court to reaffirm Janus which equally supports employees who wish to support union causes and those who “strongly object to the positions the union takes” as the court stated in 2018. Mountain States Policy Center firmly agrees with those asking SCOTUS to fully clarify the First Amendment rights of workers to not be forced to provide financial support to union causes or membership without direct consent first. We’ll soon know if the U.S. Supreme Court agrees.
Opinion: Say it again, Supremes: Forced union dues in government are illegal
November 3, 2023 // Far from making sure that employees “clearly and affirmatively consent” before union fees are deducted from their pay, these states — under pressure from mobilized unions — deny them any independent workplace source of information about their right to refuse. Often new hires are simply given a dues-withdrawal form to sign along with all the other first-day paperwork. When disgruntled dues-payers later learn of their rights and seek to withdraw their agreement, they are routinely confronted with confusing rules intended to make it almost impossible to stop paying. The Freedom Foundation, a workers’ rights education and litigation institute, documents dozens of such cases in a recent Supreme Court filing.
City Workers Ditch Unions, Skip Dues, Following Supreme Court Ruling
November 2, 2023 // Pre-Janus, public sector employees had the option to explicitly opt out of union membership thanks to an earlier Supreme Court decision but still had to pay “agency fees” out of their paychecks to the unions. Union leaders, including New York City’s Municipal Labor Committee, warned before the decision of potentially large declines in union membership if signing up became optional. Any dramatic loss of dues-paying union members could threaten unions’ operations or even their ability to exist – a possibility on the horizon in some so-called “right to work” states.
FREEDOM FOUNDATION FILES PERC COMPLAINT AGAINST WFSE CITING DISCRIMINATION, INTERFERENCE WITH LABOR RIGHTS
October 11, 2023 // Additionally, it’s unlawful for exclusive bargaining representatives to “restrain or coerce an employee” in the exercise of their right to not join a union. Conditioning access to equitable representation on a worker joining a union coerces the employee to join the union. As for Fix, he was exclusively represented by WFSE for the purposes of collective bargaining. Therefore, WFSE owed him a duty of fair representation that was breached when Yestramski refused to communicate with him. Public employees like Todd Fix who have no desire to affiliate with unions are constantly bearing the price of exclusive representation regimes, the original sin of modern public-sector labor law principles. In exchange for their compliance with exclusive representation laws, workers have the right to be represented fairly by their exclusive representative. And they have a right to make their own choices about joining a union without fear of losing access to equitable representation.
ALASKA CASE GIVES SCOTUS A CHANCE TO REINFORCE JANUS
October 3, 2023 // Unfortunately, lower courts — including the Alaska Supreme Court and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals — have been reluctant to hold either states or unions to that standard. If the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, it will effectively be asked to specifically apply to public employers the majority opinion issued just five years ago in Janus. If the court rejects the petition, the Alaska Supreme Court’s decision will stand. But even if the court takes up the case, a decision isn’t likely before winter. Most likely, months or years of written and oral arguments could be forthcoming. “Unless you agree to enforce it, even a landmark ruling like Janus is just a piece of paper,” Stahlfeld said. “Because unions and activist judges have been allowed to act as if Janus never happened, states like Alaska that want to comply with the ruling have been obliged to adopt legislation reinforcing what should have happened all along.”
Commentary: The Sly Economics of Government Union Activism
September 13, 2023 // When presented with the option to relinquish this exclusive representation, thereby freeing themselves from the obligation to represent nonmembers, unions invariably refuse. This reveals a glaring contradiction in their position. On one hand, they lament the “free riders” who benefit from union representation without paying dues. On the other, they zealously guard their monopoly over the public workplace, wanting to represent everyone in a bargaining unit, whether a member or not. The issue transcends mere percentages and numbers; it’s a matter of trust, transparency, and financial autonomy. Unions must reevaluate their approach to membership and adapt to the new legal landscape. The question: Will unions serve their members and charge them accordingly, or maintain their own political agendas by overcharging?
Five years ago, U.S. Supreme Court strikes down forced public union dues
July 5, 2023 // Following the Supreme Court ruling, Janus left his job with the state of Illinois to join the Illinois Policy Institute, a free market think tank. The ruling affected union participation around the country. According to the Freedom Foundation, over a quarter of a million workers have left the four largest public unions since the Janus decision, which is a decline of about 10 percent. After the ruling, AFSCME Council 31, the union Janus sued, saw nearly a 20% drop in membership.
Teachers, why are you still union members when you don’t have to be?
June 23, 2023 // One of the best alternatives is the Association of American Educators (AAE). AAE is the United States’ largest nonunion organization of teachers. AAE is a nonpartisan group that works directly on behalf of teachers and, most importantly, the interests of their students. Moreover, AAE membership provides superior benefits to those of teachers’ unions at a fraction of the cost of union dues.
Public-Sector Union Membership Down 10 Percent Since Janus
June 20, 2023 // Maxford Nelson of the Freedom Foundation, a conservative union-watchdog group, has crunched the numbers and found that 733,745 workers have left the four largest public-sector unions since the Janus decision, which is a decline of about 10 percent. Those four are the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Long Island teachers remain without contract after 12 years
May 8, 2023 // Long Island teachers on April 23 protested over the ongoing, 12-year contract negotiation impasse between the Lawrence Teachers’ Association (LTA) and the Lawrence Union Free School District. The Lawrence Union Free School District is located in Cedarhurst, New York. The previous contract ended in 2011, and teachers in the school district have continued to work under the terms of the expired contract due to the prolonged contract negotiations.