Posts tagged union dues
Lower courts ignore Supreme Court precedent to force union payments
August 2, 2025 // The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to answer that question. In an amicus brief filed July 24, the two organizations ask the Court to reaffirm and enforce the constitutional standard it set in the 2018 Janus v. AFSCME decision: that no money may be taken from a public employee’s paycheck for a union without the employee’s clear and affirmative consent. The brief supports two public workers who are respectively suing the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees as well as the International Union of Operating Engineers. Marcus Todd and Terry Klee
School custodian appeals union wage case dismissal
July 29, 2025 // According to the lawsuit, the union continued to remove dues for four months before stopping in April 2024. The suit says the union resumed removing dues in May 2024. The appeal argues the lower court erroneously ruled jurisdiction solely rests with the State Employment Labor Relations Board and goes against an Ohio Supreme Court ruling that Sheldon argues gives public employees the right to sue over private contract disputes, despite the Ohio Public Employee Collective Bargaining Act. Sheldon wants the union to stop removing dues from his paycheck and refund the money taken after he quit. He also wants an injunction to prevent further removal.
Commentary– Union Rules: Welcome to the Hotel California
July 29, 2025 // While public employees may sign up to join online, by mail, or by completing a form in person, cancelling is a different story. For example, the boilerplate for collective bargaining agreements with the Service Employees International Union or the Teamsters typically reads something along the lines of: An employee may withdraw such consent in accordance with the terms of the membership and dues deduction agreement (emphasis mine) between the employee and the Union. The Union will notify the City when it is appropriate to stop dues deduction in accordance with the terms of the membership and dues deduction agreement between the employee and the Union.
Trump-appointed judge tosses White House lawsuit against labor unions
July 27, 2025 // Albright also noted that a different federal judge in Kentucky came to the same conclusion on standing back in May. Nevertheless, he wrote that the administration offered “compelling arguments” supporting Trump’s determination that these agencies are primarily engaged in national security work and, therefore, can be exempted from unionization. The White House and AFGE did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In the aftermath of Trump’s executive order, agencies worked to stop deducting union dues from workers’ paychecks — a critical blow to AFGE’s and other groups’ ability to fund their operations. Unions have moved to set up alternative collections mechanisms but have said in court papers that the administration’s decision will cost them millions of dollars.
Kaiser Nurse Hits CA Nurses Union With Federal Charges for Forcing Nurses to Fund Union Politics
July 23, 2025 // Because California is not a Right to Work state, UNAC chiefs can enforce union monopoly bargaining contracts that require Warthemann and her fellow nurses to pay union dues to keep their jobs, but Beck limits this amount to only the portion of dues that UNAC officials use for bargaining functions. In contrast, in Right to Work states like neighboring Arizona and Nevada, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary. “The radical political agenda promoted by the UNAC union is something I do not—and should not—be compelled to support,” Warthemann commented. “While I’m required to pay union dues to remain employed at the hospital, that obligation should not include funding extreme political activities. It is both unethical and, in my view, illegal.”
The Roadmap To Modernizing Federal Labor Laws: Matt Kittle, F. Vincent Vernuccio
July 20, 2025 // That's one of the main things that we want to see at I4AW. Is workers having a choice in a voice, having. The ability to say who they want to be represented by, how they want their money spent, and how they want to work. And I know we talked about it briefly with the ERA, but the ability for an independent contractor to work for themselves, not be considered an employee, small business owner, to own a franchise, all those things are core to what the flexibility and the entrepreneurship of the modern worker, and those are the concepts that are embraced, you know, not just on the union end of the Employee Rights Act, but on the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit and pro worker end of the ERA.
San Fernando Valley Kaiser Permanente Nurse Hits UNAC Union With Federal Charges for Forcing Nurses to Fund Union Politics
July 19, 2025 // Sarah Warthemann, a nurse at Kaiser Permanente’s branch in Woodland Hills, has just filed federal charges against the United Nurses Association of California (UNAC) union at her workplace. She maintains that UNAC officials threatened that she would lose her job if she did not formally join the union, and have ignored her attempt to exercise her legal right to opt out of paying for union political expenses. Warthemann filed her charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.
Agencies’ explanations for implementing labor-management EO run a wide gamut
July 8, 2025 // If the main harm the unions are pointing out relates mainly to their own budget problems instead of the rights that they help negotiate for employees, such as working conditions or quick turnarounds for a scheduling perspective or other protections. Their argument seems short sighted and seems to miss the broader point of what the union’s job is.
Op-Ed: Public employees deserve truth from union officials
June 27, 2025 // In 2020, Colorado union officials gained mandatory collective bargaining affecting state employees. Three years ago, they landed compulsory organizing of many county workers. And the following year, Colorado lawmakers granted more favorable rules on how certain municipalities, universities, schools, and hospitals interact with and speak about unions. Now, union officials want to fundamentally change the state’s labor landscape once again.
Bid Protests Offer a Way Around PLAs, But Will a Slow, Steady Precedent Win the Day?
June 25, 2025 // The OMB memo instructs federal agencies to maintain the labor pact requirements but also points to a Federal Acquisition Rule provision that provides an exception to the PLA requirement for large construction projects when its use would substantially reduce the number of bidders and impact the price. But it has left neither contractor groups nor NABTU happy. "To that extent this isn’t what we hoped for, it is definitely better than what was in place with the Biden administration,” Brian Turmail, vice president of public affairs and workforce at AGC told ENR. “In addition, given the recent court decisions, it is hard to see how the administration will be able to impose a mandated PLA without facing successful bid protests."