Posts tagged Janus v. AFSCME
Two states, two visions for the future of labor “Right-to-work” is on the ballot.
October 3, 2022 // Two economic papers published in the last year also reached different conclusions about the consequences of right-to-work laws. The first found right-to-work laws associated with increased manufacturing employment, increased employment, and greater upward mobility. The second found that right-to-work laws lower wages and unionization rates.
The Battle for Worker Freedom in the States: Grading State Public Sector Labor Laws
September 30, 2022 // In the four years following the Janus v. AFSCME U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the nation’s four largest government unions—AFSCME, SEIU, NEA, and AFT—have lost almost 219,000 union members. The Janus decision to end forced unionism for government workers accelerated a long-term decline in membership. In response, government unions are conducting aggressive campaigns to unionize new workers with recent successes in Virginia and Colorado.
And Now the Union Would Like a Word in Private-Under Janus, government workers don’t have to join or pay. But behind closed doors it’s hard to say no
September 13, 2022 // Four years after Janus, plenty of government employers haven’t explained to workers that union membership is not a condition of employment. Some employee handbooks still say workers must pay the union to keep their jobs. And many—if not most—public employees don’t know that a contract negotiated by the union applies to them whether they pay dues or not. Government-worker unions enjoy outsize influence over government. Governors, mayors, county executives and school superintendents facing demands for private access to their employees must remember how the unions wound up with the privileges that make them so powerful.
Op-ed: Worker freedom and choice are still under attack
August 23, 2022 // In one dispute that reached the NLRB , an employee was told if she did not sign an authorization card, “the union would come and get her children and it would also slash her car tires.” In a 2012 United Auto Workers union drive in Chattanooga, Tennessee, workers claimed organizers said that signing cards would only indicate their interest in the union. But this was not true: Signing the card meant they authorized the union to represent them. Unions prefer the card check approach because it allows them to bypass the protections of a secret ballot election and helps them organize more dues-paying members. If an organizer threatens a worker to sign a card, the worker may comply just to get the organizer to go away.
AFT: Where Do Your Union Dues Go?
June 10, 2022 // During its 2020-2021 fiscal year, AFT collected $196.7 million in dues from school employees, a $10 million increase from last year, despite having 13,390 fewer members. AFT members pay $235 each year in union dues. AFT spent $49 million of members’ dues on politics last year, according to the union’s own reporting. The union spent an additional $6 million on “Contributions, Gifts, and Grants,” with much of this money going to political organizations. In total, this accounted for about 27% of AFT’s spending in 2020-2021. Only 36% of AFT’s spending went towards representational activities, Contributions, Gifts, Grants, Fedrick Ingram, Evelyn DeJesus, Michael S. Powell, Michelle Ringuette,
Puerto Rico Police Bureau Employees Hit Union and Bureau with Federal Lawsuit for Illegally Denying Healthcare Benefits
June 6, 2022 // According to the lawsuit, the employee plaintiffs are nonmembers who have exercised their right under Janus to end union membership and cut off union dues deductions. When they exercised that right at various points after the 2018 Janus decision, each noticed that as soon as dues ceased coming out of their paycheck they also stopped receiving a $25-a-month employer-paid benefit intended to help employees pay for health insurance. Vanessa Carbonell, Roberto Whatts Osorio, Elba Colon Nery, Billy Nieves Hernandez, Nelida Alvarez Febus, Linda Dumont Guzman, Sandra Quinones Pinto, Yomarys Ortiz Gonzalez, University of Puerto Rico, Jose Ramos, Orlando Mendez,
U.S. Court of Appeals Shouldn’t Let Unions Buy Their Way Out of Litigation
June 3, 2022 // “This is an attempt by a union to circumvent litigation to avoid potentially damaging precedent,” said Patrick Wright, vice president of legal affairs at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and president of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation. “We hope the court recognizes the importance of allowing plaintiffs, even in non-union cases, to vigorously pursue their constitutional rights, regardless of gamesmanship.”
Op-Ed: Government unions divert dues to leftist politics
May 29, 2022 // According to the most recent LM-2 form submitted by the NEA to the Internal Revenue Service, the union raked in a staggering $377 million in dues and agency fees during 2021 alone. Of that total, however, only $32 million was earmarked for representational activity — ostensibly the NEA’s top priority.
Teachers Win Eight-Year Battle with PSEA: Judge Says Pa. ‘Fair Share’ Law Unconstitutional
May 27, 2022 // Explaining the ruling’s significance, Nathan McGrath, president and general counsel for the Fairness Center, commented: “The judge unequivocally stated that Pennsylvania’s ‘fair share’ fee law is unconstitutional under Janus. To my knowledge, this is the first time a state court has issued such a ruling.”