California Teachers Suing to End Mandatory Union Dues _ Washington Free Beacon

8/13/2019 California Teachers Suing to End Mandatory Union Dues _ Washington Free Beacon

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A Political ActCalifornia teachers suing to end mandatory union dues

BY: Bill McMorris

FFoollllooww @@FFBBiillllMMccMMoorrrriiss

July 1, 2013 5:00 am

A group of California teachers is

preparing for a Supreme Court

battle to overturn forced union

dues in a groundbreaking

lawsuits filed in June.

For nearly three decades, the

Supreme Court has allowed

closed-shop unionism, in which

public employees must pay dues to labor groups handling collective

bargaining negotiations.

The Supreme Court established Beck Rightsin 1988 allowing workers to

opt out of union dues for political activities, while continuing to pay for union

negotiating expenses. The teachers are hoping to take that battle one step

further by putting an end to all coercive union dues.

Ten California schoolteachers are challenging Californias policy of forcing

all public employees to pay union dues for collective bargaining. The

Center for Individual Rights (CIR) is aiding their suit. The CIR views the

issue through the lens of the Constitution, rather than as a contest of labor

policy.

Our efforts are not anti-union; we are trying to solidify the First Amendment

rights of public employees to freely assemble, CIR president Terry Pell

said.

The plaintiffs filed a preliminary injunctionon Tuesday asking the court to

waive the teachers union dues during the ongoing trial. Pell is certain the

motion will fail, which is all the better for the plaintiffs because it will fast-

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track the litigation to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and eventually the

Supreme Court.

This is a piece of strategic litigationwere trying to get the issue of

compulsory union dues to the Supreme Court as quickly as possible, he

said. We know that lower courts cant overrule Supreme Court precedent,but this will expedite us through the system.

The Roberts court opened the door to ending coercive unionism last year

when it ruled 5-4 that Service Employees International Union improperly

charged non-union members for political activities. Justice Samuel Alito,

writing for the majority in Knox v. Service Employees International Union,

said the forced dues on non-union members were indefensible

Public-sector unions have the right under the First Amendmentto express

their views on political and social issues without government interference

But employees who choose not to join a union have the same rights,

Alito ruled. The First Amendmentcreates a forum in which all may seek,

without hindrance or aid from the State, to move public opinion and achieve

their political goals.

The California plaintiffs take this reasoning a step further. They argue thatnegotiations between teachers unions and state officials are a political act

in and of themselves. Paying money to aid in union negotiations, Pell says,

violates the rights of teachers who object to union goals of maximizing

expensive benefits, such as Californias underfunded pension plan.

All public-sector union bargainingon issues like pensions and pay and

leave and seniority rulesare claims on the public Treasury, an inherently

political act, Pell said. Some union teachers may think this is a goodthing, but our clients say that unions shouldnt be collecting more and more

of the public pie while the parents of their students are struggling.

The Obama administrations labor policies have only exacerbated the

tension between First Amendment rights and financing the political

activities of unions.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled in December 2012 thatnon-union employees should be forced to pay for lobbying expensesas an

apolitical activity, if the costs lead to improvements for all employees.

The NLRB crossed over the line, Pell said. Union collective bargaining or

union ads and lobbying that promote increased education spending are

overtly political.

The teachers are not alone in their fight. The National Right to Work

Foundation, which won the Knox case, is waging a similar battle in Texas

where six airline employees fileda class action suit challenging the concept


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of exclusive bargaining as an encroachment on the freedom of assembly

and speech.

Union bosses have abused their extraordinary government-granted power

to automatically compel workers to fund their political activities unless

workers objecta power granted to no other private organization in ourcountryfor far too long, Mark Mix, president of National Right to Work,

said in a statement. The First Amendment right of workers who refrain

from union membership to automatically refrain from paying union dues at

all and especially for politics is long overdue.

This entry was posted in Big Laborand tagged California, NLRB, SE, SEIU, Supreme Court,

Unions. Bookmark the permalink.

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BBiillll MMccMMoorrrriiss Email Bill| Full Bio| RSSBill McMorris is a staff writer for the Washington Free Beacon.His email address is [email protected].

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California Teachers Suing to End Mandatory Union Dues _ Washington Free Beacon