Posts tagged First Amendment
New law bans California companies from forcing employees to meet on politics, religion or union issues
October 4, 2024 // But starting next year, California employers will no longer be able to force employees into so-called “captive audience” meetings about politics, including unions, or religion. Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill Friday banning these compulsory meetings. The new law, which was supported mostly by unions, prohibits employers from retaliating against employees when they don’t attend a meeting related to religion or politics, including union organizing.
Rhode Island School District Settles Suit With Teacher Denied Tenure After Leaving Union
October 3, 2024 // Although Lancellotta received "highly effective" ratings in his most recent evaluations, the district did not renew his contract, a move that effectively terminated his employment. This decision appeared to be driven by his resignation from the union. An appeal to the school board revealed that school officials had based their decision to terminate solely on the recommendation of Lancellotta’s department head, a union committee member. The appeal also uncovered troubling collaboration between the school’s attorneys and the union’s legal team.
Puerto Rico Police Bureau Employees Win at District Court; Beat Union Scheme That Swiped Health Benefit from Dissenting Employees
September 27, 2024 // The plaintiffs, Vanessa Carbonell, Roberto Whatts Osorio, Elba Colon Nery, Billy Nieves Hernandez, Nelida Alvarez Febus, Linda Dumont Guzman, Sandra Quinones Pinto, Yomarys Ortiz Gonzalez, Janet Cruz Berrios, Carmen Berlingeri Pabon, and Merab Ortiz Rivera, filed their lawsuit at the U.S. District Court of Puerto Rico in 2022. They invoked their rights under the 2018 Foundation-won Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision, in which the Justices held that compelling public employees to join or fund a union violates the First Amendment. Janus also established that union officials can only take union dues from a public employee who has waived his or her First Amendment right not to pay.
Op-Ed: Public Sector Unions Should Only Speak for Their Members
September 3, 2024 //
Op-Ed: Kamala Harris aims to screw workers AND businesses to help Big Labor bosses
September 2, 2024 // Yet on issues of labor, no speculation is needed: Harris has consistently, loudly and unequivocally advocated for policies that grant union officials unprecedented control over both workers and their pocketbooks. Most notably, the union-label Harris has repeatedly expressed support for the repeal of every state Right to Work law in the country.
Mandatory union meeting reinforces Oregon teacher’s decision to opt-out
September 1, 2024 //
Beleaguered CUNY Professors Appeal to SCOTUS for Relief from Union They Claim Is Antisemitic
August 6, 2024 // The cert petition says the heart of their complaint is the question, “Can the government force Jewish professors to accept the representation of an advocacy group they rightly consider to be anti-Semitic?” They claim that various Supreme Court rulings, including Janus and NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co., articulate their First Amendment right to “eschew association for expressive purposes” and “boycott entities to express a message.” The petition charges the lower courts have misinterpreted Knight, saying that ruling “did not sanction a state forcing Jewish faculty members who are ardent Zionists to accept the representation of a union that supports policies they consider anti-Israel,” and urges the Court to grant to petition to “clarify Knight and make clear that the First Amendment protects individuals’ right to dissociate themselves from advocacy groups that support policies contrary to their deeply held beliefs.”
Liberty Justice Center Sues New Jersey Union For Violating Plumber’s Constitutional Rights
August 5, 2024 // Upon learning about his rights under the Janus decision, Giangrasso sent a letter to UA Local 9 resigning his union membership and requesting an end to the dues deduction. However, the union refused, arguing that the Janus decision didn’t apply because the deductions were termed “assessments” rather than “dues.”
Illinois bans companies from forcing workers to listen to their anti-union talk
August 2, 2024 // U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business are challenging similar laws in other states. The groups say the laws are a violation of the First Amendment, denying employers their right to free speech, and are also in conflict with the National Labor Relations Act, which protects an employer's communications with employees as long as they do not contain threats of reprisals or promises of benefits.
Billboard campaign spotlights Oregon union’s flirtation with socialism
August 2, 2024 // What many teachers paying monthly dues to the Oregon Education Association (OEA) may not know is that their union has opened its doors to the nation’s foremost socialist group, allowing DSA to hold monthly meetings in OEA’s Salem office, as reported by the Freedom Foundation’s Research & Government Affairs Associate Ben Straka earlier this year. To inform Salem educators about the questionable use of their dues-funded union headquarters, the Freedom Foundation’s Oregon team developed and positioned billboards in the area, announcing: “OEA