New York, NY (November 16, 2005) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys, a Saks Fifth Avenue (Saks) employee filed federal charges today against the Retail Wholesale Department Store Union Local 1102 for illegally threatening to get 150 employees fired if they assert their right to refrain from formal union membership and refuse the automatic deduction of full union dues from their paychecks.

Robert Jones, a cosmetics retail sales associate in Saks’ flagship store in Manhattan, filed federal unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after union officials illegally threatened to order the termination of roughly 150 Saks cosmetic department employees if they refuse to become formal members of the union, pay full union dues, and sign a dual-purpose membership and dues deduction “authorization” card.

Foundation attorneys cite that union officials never informed Jones, or any other similarly situated employee, of his right to refrain from formal union membership and not be forced to pay for union politics and other non-bargaining activities.

“In an effort to stuff their coffers, union officials are forcing unwanted union affiliation down the throats of intimidated employees,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “These ‘pay up or be fired’ threats demonstrate how union officials take advantage of the special privileges they have obtained under federal and state law.”

The threats of union officials violate workers’ rights recognized under the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court Communications Workers v. Beck decision. Under Beck and subsequent NLRB rulings, union officials must specifically inform employees of their right to refrain from formal union membership and pay only those proven costs directly related to collective bargaining.

Jones’ charges are the latest in a three-year legal battle between Saks employees and union officials. While union operatives won monopoly bargaining power over the department in 2002, Jones collected signatures from more than half of cosmetic department employees who would prefer to negotiate directly with their employer. Jones’ effort to decertify the union was halted under the NLRB’s “contract bar” doctrine, but he now has a deauthorization petition pending to remove the compulsory dues clause from the contract.

“No one should be forced to pay dues to an unwanted union just to get or keep their job,” stated Gleason. “This is especially true when union officials go out of their way to threaten workers who exercise their rights.”

Cincinnati, Ohio (November 11, 2005) – Acknowledging irreparable harm to the constitutional rights of roughly 100 nonunion Cincinnati firefighters, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against the City of Cincinnati and the local firefighter union late Wednesday, halting the use and further collection of their forced union dues for politics.

The ruling stems from a complaint filed by five local members of the International Association of Black Professional Firefighters who have had separate, but ongoing, disputes with the union hierarchy, including charges of discrimination that allege racist treatment of minority firefighters by union officials.

Receiving free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, the firefighters charged that IAFF Local 48 union officials acted in concert with the City of Cincinnati and seized compulsory union dues from them without first providing an adequate independent audit of the union’s expenditures, among other things. The complaint, filed in summer 2004, also named Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken, among other top City officials, for signing and enforcing an agreement with the union that resulted in the unconstitutional acts.

The firefighters filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio’s Western Division. They allege that IAFF Local 48 union officials intentionally seized the forced union dues without first providing the financial disclosure and procedures required by a long-standing U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Under that ruling, the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution protect objecting employees from demands to pay for union political activity and other non-bargaining activities.

After City and union officials renewed their contract authorizing the unlawful forced union dues seizures again without providing adequate notice and procedures, Foundation attorneys filed a renewed request for a temporary restraining order, prompting the Court to act.

“IAFF officials have repeatedly trampled the basic constitutional rights of those firefighters whose interests they claim to represent,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “So long as Ohio’s workers labor under a system of forced unionism, such abuses will inevitably continue.»

Under the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court decision Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson, before collecting any forced dues, union officials must first provide an audited disclosure of the union’s expenses. Such audits are intended to ensure that forced union dues seized from nonunion public employees do not fund union activities unrelated to collective bargaining.

Portland, OR (November 7, 2005) – A local health care worker filed federal unfair labor practice charges after union officials gained monopoly bargaining power over Kaiser Permanente employees by deceiving them into signing union “authorization” cards.

In granting Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 49 officials monopoly bargaining authority, Kaiser violated its own contract with the union which requires “private elections” for the union to be recognized, and only after such elections are requested by more than half of the employees.

Karen Mayhew, who works in the Patient Business Services Department at a local Kaiser office, obtained free legal assistance from attorneys with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation in filing the charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for herself and roughly 65 similarly situated employees.

Mayhew also filed a petition for decertification of the unwanted union within days of Kaiser’s granting SEIU officials monopoly bargaining power over the 65 workers affected. However, under the so-called “voluntary recognition bar rule,” created by the NLRB, workers cannot petition for an election for up to a year after a union gains recognition. Foundation attorneys have requested that the petition for election not be dismissed because a separate Foundation-assisted case challenging that rule’s validity is pending before the full NLRB in Washington, DC.

“All too often, union bosses use misrepresentations and coercion during union organizing drives, and we are hopeful that the federal labor board will take swift action,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Union officials’ illegal behavior shows that they do not respect the workers they seek to represent. They simply thirst for additional sources of forced union dues revenues.”

Kaiser granted recognition to SEIU union officials based on the results of this “card check” scheme, even though the agreement between the company and union specifically states that recognition will only be granted after workers have a secret-ballot election to determine majority support of the union. Furthermore, several workers will submit statements that Kaiser held a meeting with its employees during which union officials explicitly told workers that signing the “cards” was not a vote for unionization, but instead was a request to hold a secret-ballot election and receive more information.

The NLRB Region will investigate the charges and determine whether to issue a formal complaint. It will also make a decision on the disposition of the decertification petition in the coming weeks.

Sacramento, California (November 4, 2005) – Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation, made the following statement in response to this morning’s U.S. District Court ruling not to extend previous injunctive relief to protect roughly 27,000 California government employees from financing union political activities.

At the same time, to avoid a preliminary injunction as to the 8 named plaintiffs, union officials agreed in court today to give the entire forced dues increase back to those individuals.

“In declining to take swift action to protect 27,000 forced-dues-paying nonmembers of the California State Employees Association (CSEA) union, the ruling will, for now, permit union officials to spend those workers’ forced dues on politics over their objections and without their permission.

“In their lust to preserve and expand their power, union officials are thumbing their noses at employee rights and basic fairness. No employee should have to get a lawyer simply to protect their freedom of speech.

“Unfortunately, current California law stacks the deck against individual employees objecting to union activities. As a matter of practice, union officials force employees to jump over a series of hurdles designed to discourage employees from objecting.

“Today’s ruling forces roughly 27,000 California state employees to endure an ongoing violation of their most basic constitutional rights while their class action suit winds through the legal system.

“While the Court has chosen not to immediately stop the ongoing violation of CSEA nonmembers’ constitutional rights, we are confident that the public servants fighting for their rights will ultimately win their legal case. Supreme Court precedents are on their side.

“No one should have to pay dues to an unwanted union, especially when union officials continually abuse that government-granted special privilege.”

Sacramento, California (November 3, 2005) – Acknowledging irreparable harm to government employees’ constitutional rights, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order from the bench late Wednesday against the State of California and the California State Employees Association (CSEA) union, halting the use and further collection of a mandatory dues increase for politics from eight nonmember state employees.

At the same time, Morrison C. England Jr., U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of California, scheduled a hearing tomorrow morning to consider an immediate statewide injunction that would bar union officials from seizing forced dues for politics from roughly 37,000 similarly situated CSEA nonmembers who are not already named plaintiffs in the case.

The civil rights complaint, filed by nine state government employees (union members and nonmembers) on Tuesday with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, seeks a ruling that would require union officials to give over 100,000 union members and non-members due process, including proper financial disclosure, a formal notice that they may reclaim the forced dues spent for electioneering, and rebates, plus interest, to all who request it.

Since September 30, CSEA (Local 1000, Service Employees International Union) officials have been collecting a 25-36 percent (or more) mandatory dues increase earmarked to influence this year’s special election. The “Emergency Temporary Assessment to Build a Political Fight-Back Fund” was imposed on government employees for a broad range of political and other non-collective bargaining activities. Union officials openly admit the “Fund will not be used for regular costs of the union,” but for political advertising, direct mail, and get-out-the-vote activities. According to the California Secretary of State, the CSEA union and affiliates have forwarded more than $22 million to various ballot proposition committees.

A related suit, filed by Foundation-assisted teachers in September, forced California Teacher Association (CTA) union officials to allow forced dues paying nonmembers to reclaim a $60 dues increase. Similar claims on behalf of actual members of the teacher union are still pending before the court. CTA union officials, like the CSEA union, implemented their dues increase to fund electioneering to defeat several of Governor Schwarzenegger’s propositions on the November 8 ballot.

“This ruling shows that these forced dues seizures are occurring in violation of the law – and it raises questions as to the legality and legitimacy of Big Labor’s entire political campaign,” stated National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Stefan Gleason. “Union officials are fleecing public employees to finance a political agenda with which many disagree, while fighting tooth-and-nail to keep these employees in the dark about their rights.”

In the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson, the high court ruled that public employees have due process rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to be notified of how their forced union dues are spent, and how to prevent the spending of their dues for union political activities. However, CSEA union officials have not given public employees any opportunity to object to the dues increase.

A hearing on the statewide injunction will occur tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento, in Courtroom Three.

Sacramento, California – Friday morning, November 4, the U.S. District Court will consider converting a temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction that would halt the use and further collection of a mandatory dues increase levied by California State Employees Association (CSEA) union officials against 37,000 union nonmembers.

For more information, contact Stefan Gleason (916) 844-4265.

Sacramento, California (November 1, 2005) – A group of California government employees filed a statewide class-action lawsuit in federal court today against the California State Employees Association (CSEA) union seeking a ruling that would require union officials to give over 100,000 employees financial disclosure and an opportunity to reclaim a significant forced dues increase which is earmarked to influence this year’s special election.

Filed with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, the civil rights suit seeks a preliminary injunction to halt the use and further collection of a 25-36 percent (or more) mandatory dues increase imposed by CSEA (Local 1000, Service Employees International Union) union officials on members and nonmembers of the union, and an order that every member and nonmember be issued a notice and allowed to obtain a refund, plus interest.

A similar suit, filed by Foundation-assisted teachers in September, forced California Teacher Association (CTA) union officials to allow forced dues paying nonmembers to reclaim the $60 dues increase. Similar claims on behalf of members of the teacher union are still pending before the court. CTA union officials, like the CSEA union, implemented their dues increase to fund electioneering to defeat several of Governor Schwarzenegger’s propositions on the November 8 ballot.

Since September 30, CSEA union officials have imposed an “Emergency Temporary Assessment to Build a Political Fight-Back Fund” for a broad range of political and other non-collective bargaining activities. Union officials openly admit the “Fund will not be used for regular costs of the union,” but for political advertising, direct mail, and get-out-the-vote activities. According to the California Secretary of State, the CSEA union and affiliates have forwarded more than $22 million to various ballot proposition committees.

Like many public servants, the nine named plaintiffs (union members and nonmembers) object to paying for union political activities with which they disagree. They seek an order certifying their suit as a class action for all CSEA members and nonmembers.

“Public employees should not have to take legal action for union officials to stop the use of their forced dues for politics,” stated National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Stefan Gleason. “However, as long as public employees labor under a system of forced unionism, such abuses will inevitably continue.”

In the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson, the high court ruled that public employees have due process rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to be notified, as potential objectors, of how their forced union dues are spent, and how to prevent the spending of their dues for union political activities. However, CSEA union officials have failed to give public employees any opportunity to object to the dues increase.

To prevent further violation of their fundamental rights, the public employees ask that the forced dues be placed into escrow, because, as Foundation attorneys note in the employees’ complaint, they “have a First Amendment right to prevent the increase in their union dues…which conflict[s] with their own personal preferences.”

Sacramento, California (October 25, 2005) – The cash-strapped California Teacher Association (CTA) union will not accept an offer by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation to pay for a $250,000 statewide mailing to all of the union’s members informing them of their constitutional right to cut off the use of their forced union dues to influence the upcoming November special election.

CTA union chief Barbara Kerr did not accept the offer made in an open letter by a group of teacher union members and nonmembers, sent last Thursday and published in Sunday’s Sacramento Bee. In their letter, the teachers demanded that union officials notify all CTA members of how they can refrain from paying for the union hierarchy’s $60 million political campaign by resigning their formal union membership and objecting.

In response to a class action lawsuit filed by teachers with free legal help from Foundation attorneys, CTA officials were forced to send a notice on October 15 to nonmembers informing teachers that they have a right to stop and immediately reclaim the $60 per teacher dues increase earmarked for political electioneering. Nonmembers, including teachers who resign their membership and object, can also reclaim an additional $300 per year that the CTA and its affiliates routinely spend on non-bargaining activities.

The open letter, signed by over two dozen California teachers, asked union officials to cooperate in informing union members of their same limited rights to cut off the use of their forced dues for politics. The proposed mailing would have been processed by a third party mail shop. It required the cooperation of CTA officials who possess the only mailing list of union members.

“Obviously, the union brass intend to keep rank-and-file teachers in the dark about their most basic rights,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of National Right to Work Foundation. “Teachers are to serve as blank checks to finance CTA officials’ radical political agenda.”

In court proceedings, CTA controller Carlos Moreno filed a sworn declaration disclosing that CTA officials had already spent all $60 million in anticipated revenues from the three-year compulsory dues increase and that union officials were in negotiations for an additional $40 million credit line. If the union is unable to obtain the additional credit, Moreno stated that a $20 million loan could be recalled and services cut back.

“We recognize that many teachers will not want to subject themselves to your discriminatory policies of denying nonmembers the right to vote on union contracts, as well as access to liability insurance. However, our member colleagues should at least be allowed to make this choice,” the teachers wrote in their letter to Kerr.

Ultimately, the U.S. District court may order the union to notify, at its own expense, union members of their due-process rights. A copy of the open letter can be viewed at www.nrtw.org/california/kerrltr.pdf.

Sacramento, California (October 20, 2005) – In an open letter to California Teacher Association (CTA) union chief Barbara Kerr, a group of teachers today demanded that union officials notify all CTA members how they can refrain from paying for its $60 million political campaign. The teachers have lined up $250,000 in funding from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a charitable legal-aid organization, to pay for a mailing to 335,000 CTA union members, if union officials cooperate.

In response to teachers’ statewide class action lawsuit, CTA officials sent a notice on October 15 to nonmembers informing teachers that they have a right to stop and immediately reclaim the $60 per teacher dues increase earmarked for union political electioneering. However, the union has flatly refused to inform union members of the same limited rights, and it takes the position that members are not entitled to such information.

“Since when do members of an organization have even fewer rights than nonmembers’ Do you believe union members are not deserving of basic disclosure of their union’s activities or their legal rights’ Do you consider teachers to be open checkbooks to stuff your political coffers’ Union members’ voices have been silenced, and their rights have been ignored,” the teachers wrote.

Carlos Moreno, the CTA union’s accountant, recently filed a sworn declaration in the class-action lawsuit stating that union officials have already spent all revenues anticipated from the three-year compulsory dues increase. He further said that CTA officials are currently negotiating with a bank for an additional $40 million credit line.

“We expect that in light of the CTA union’s extraordinary spending spree, you will cry poverty (despite the additional $40 million you are currently borrowing) to avoid your legal and moral responsibility. That’s why the Foundation, at our request, has offered to pay for the proposed mailing’s entire cost, estimated at $250,000,” the teachers explained.

Like the notice sent to nonmembers in response to the lawsuit, the mailing to members would disclose that the entire $60 annual dues increase is being spent for politics. It would also alert teachers to their constitutional right to resign from union membership and to object and reclaim all dues spent for political and other non-bargaining activities.

“We recognize that many teachers will not want to subject themselves to your discriminatory policies of denying nonmembers the right to vote on union contracts, as well as access to liability insurance. However, our member colleagues should at least be allowed to make this choice,” the teachers wrote.

“Ultimately, the court may order you to observe members’ due process rights. However, with the election less than three weeks away, time is of the essence…Will you cooperate?” the teachers asked.

A complete copy of the teachers’ open letter – which asks for a response by 10 a.m. on Tuesday, October 25 – can be viewed at www.nrtw.org/california.

Sacramento, California (October 17, 2005) – The National Right to Work Foundation today launched a statewide radio advertising campaign with an ad recorded by State Senator Tom McClintock and 5th grade teacher Judy Liegmann, lead plaintiff in the pending class action lawsuit against the state’s largest teacher union.

The ad educates the public about the scandalous misuse of compulsory dues for politics and directs employees to www.californiafreedomproject.org, where they may obtain free legal assistance in asserting their constitutional rights.

“It takes enormous courage for classroom teachers to stand up to the union bosses. They’re fighting for the right of every one of us to make our own decisions – free from union coercion… And I, for one, am proud to stand with them,” says McClintock in the one minute ad spot.

The ad campaign comes on the heels of a recent U.S. District Court ruling not to issue a temporary restraining order to freeze immediately forced union dues seizures from teachers statewide, spent for politics, until due process is given. A class-action lawsuit filed by teachers and faculty with help from Foundation attorneys continues to seek a ruling that union officials must notify union member educators of their right to resign from formal union membership and refuse to pay the mandatory dues increase.

A sworn declaration filed by the California Teacher Association (CTA) union’s accountant in recent days reveals that the union has already spent the $60 million raised by the three-year dues increase levied against teachers and is attempting to secure an additional $40 million loan to battle Governor Schwarzenegger’s ballot initiatives. Union officials’ spending of teachers’ forced union dues could approach $100 million before the special election next month.

Aside from making a statewide advertising buy, the National Right to Work Foundation has also distributed radio public service announcements across California and established a special web-site that provides teachers with information on how to object and reclaim their dues.

Since the educators filed their suit, CTA union officials have already backpedaled and indicated they will now, in fact, allow non-union members to get their $60 back this fall. But, at the same time, union officials stand firm in refusing even to inform their 300,000+ members of their right to resign and object. These rights are nevertheless limited – as resignation from formal union membership results in the union brass barring teachers from voting on union contracts and denying access to liability insurance.

An “mp3”-format copy of the radio ad featuring Senator McClintock is available for download at https://www.nrtw.org/california/video/teacherv3.mp3.