Posts tagged Janus v. AFSCME
Democracy in the Workplace Is Under Threat
June 30, 2025 // The National Labor Relations Board, which the NLRA created, initially agreed with the majority-of-a-unit standard. In a 1936 decision involving Chrysler, the board rejected a unionization election in which only 125 out of an eligible 700 workers had voted. While 97 percent of the voting workers supported organizing, the board rightly concluded that a mere 17 percent of workers didn’t represent the views of the majority. The law’s text required that ruling. But the NLRB reversed course within months, giving a minority of workers the power to determine the majority’s future in a case involving newspaper workers. In a separate decision, the board declared that it couldn’t require a majority of workers to vote in favor of unionization, nor could it require the lower bar of a quorum. The NLRB, in the 1930s, defended its rejection of the law’s plain text by saying that, with a majority requirement, “the purpose of the [NLRA] would be thwarted.” But the board itself is doing the thwarting of workers’ rights and workplace democracy.
Don’t Overlook the Union Factor in California’s Chaos
June 12, 2025 // Many on the left applauded Newsom for this bold departure from his fiduciary and constitutional responsibilities. But it was Huerta who rightly claimed the credit. “Healthcare justice and immigrant justice are core values of SEIU members,” he said in a statement. “Passing Health for All is the gold standard for inclusion in healthcare, an achievement that the rest of the nation can look to. I am proud of California’s progress toward inclusion of immigrant workers and our families in our healthcare system, and I’m especially proud that SEIU members in California and our allies fought so hard and for so many years to accomplish this.”
Op-ed: Virginia Must Clarify Its Labor Laws
June 9, 2025 // The ideal outcome for Virginia would be to repeal the Democrats’ 2020 law and return Virginia to being one of the few states that outright prohibit collective bargaining in the public sector. North and South Carolina have for decades, and Utah joined them with a new law signed by Governor Spencer Cox (R.) this year. But with Democrats currently in control of the Virginia General Assembly, a repeal effort would go nowhere. In the meantime, the proposed regulations are needed to make sure local government unions are following the law. Virginia is a right-to-work state with many strong protections for employees in unionized workplaces. Public employees deserve those protections just as much as private employees do.
City of Everett Employee Slams AFSCME Union and City With Labor Board Complaints for Illegal Dues Seizures From Paycheck
May 6, 2025 // “I exercised my constitutional right to stop my hard-earned money from going to the AFSCME union or its officials, but neither my employer nor the union is respecting my freedom” commented Davidsen. “I’ve made it clear that I don’t support the AFSCME union. Union bosses shouldn’t get to hold onto my money simply because my managers violated the law by continuing to take it after I demanded a stop.”
NEW YORK: With A2593, unions are outsourcing their deceit to robots
March 27, 2025 // A2593, recently introduced in the New York State Assembly, would allow unions to make automated “robocalls” to public employees who’ve opted out of union membership. If the proposal sounds absurd, that’s because it’s a blatant attempt to preserve their fading influence by strongarming workers who have unequivocally expressed their wishes already. The bill claims to protect New Yorkers’ privacy; in reality, it would accomplish the polar opposite by granting government unions one of the few legal exceptions to make robocalls in the state.
Freedom Foundation Sues California Public Employment Relations Board
March 18, 2025 // “The Public Employment Relations Board is trampling on free speech and workers’ rights, all to protect union interests,” said Freedom Foundation CEO Aaron Withe. “By enforcing these unconstitutional statutes, they are silencing the Shasta County Board and preventing public employees from receiving crucial information about their rights.” “These laws do a real disservice to public employees, forcing them to rely solely on unions for information that the unions have no intention of providing,” said Freedom Foundation Litigation Counsel Ravi Prasad. “Workers deserve the truth about their options. But these statutes ensure that workers only hear unions’ perspectives on the merits of union membership, while silencing any public employer who disagrees. This is textbook viewpoint discrimination.”
Op-ed: Josh Hawley’s union-friendly bill may open the door to right-to-work
March 17, 2025 // Hawley, who opposes right-to-work laws, may be inadvertently laying the groundwork for a national version of that same policy, protecting private-sector workers across America from getting fired for not paying union fees. Hawley’s Faster Labor Contracts Act—which the Teamsters union has already endorsed—is billed as a means of stopping employers from delaying negotiations with labor unions. Under current law, businesses and unions are required to negotiate in good faith, and there’s no deadline for an agreement because workers and job creators need time to reach the best deal.
Liberty Justice Center Files Three New Lawsuits to Protect the Rights of Government Employees Against Public-Sector Unions
March 13, 2025 // "Public-sector unions continue to place barriers for government employees who wish to stop being union members and stop paying union dues in ways that violate the Supreme Court’s Janus decision.” said Jeffrey Schwab, Senior Counsel at the Liberty Justice Center. “And although those unions are supposed to only collect dues from members, these unions often refuse to be held accountable by their own members for how they spend those dues.”
The Freedom Foundation creates teachers’ union alternative
March 10, 2025 // “Public employees are leaving their unions in record numbers, frustrated by the funding of radical agendas driven by union bosses,” Freedom Foundation CEO Aaron Withe said in a news release. “The Teacher Freedom Alliance offers an alternative for pro-America educators who seek to restore traditional values in the classroom and provide students with the high-quality education they deserve– free from political influence and union control.”
Right-to-work facts vs. myths
February 12, 2025 // What’s become evident over the decades is that right-to-work laws are associated with statistically significant gains in employment, particularly manufacturing employment, job opportunities, population growth and economic growth. If New Hampshire adopts a right-to-work law, we would expect to see improvements in all of those areas, along with an improvement in state business tax revenues resulting from the additional business activity. As for freedom vs. coercion, workers have First Amendment rights not to associate with or fund membership organizations that they choose not to join. If workers want to join unions, they should be free to do so.