Posts tagged Allen v. Seattle Police Officers’ Guild
UNION PRESIDENT APOLOGIZES TO FREEDOM FOUNDATION CLIENT
April 23, 2024 // The Washington State Supreme Court, in Allen v. Seattle Police Officers’ Guild, made clear that the right to fair representation is not dependent on a worker’s membership status. Nor is it lawful for an exclusive bargaining representative to “restrain or coerce an employee” in the exercise of their right to not join a union.” “I needed something I would be able point to the next time I need representation,” Fix said. “This letter gives me security and lets others know the union can’t discriminate against them.” The irony is that Fix isn’t anti-union per se, and had even negotiated on behalf of WFSE in the past. Fix went out of his way to aid the union in its collective bargaining functions and was mistreated just because he exercised his First Amendment right to opt out. Mike Yestramski,
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.