Thursday, September 22, 2005

Teachers Sue Unions Over Dues Increase to Fight Governor

A number of California Teachers have teamed up with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation (NRTW) to fight back against the union bosses who (without a vote of the membership) authorized an increase in their membership dues to fight the Governor’s reforms on the November special election ballot.

In a press release issued by NRTW they state:

Like many public servants, the six named plaintiffs object to paying for union political activities with which they disagree, so they asked the Foundation for free legal assistance. They seek an order certifying their suit as a class action for all CTA members and nonmembers, and all CFA nonmembers. The educators also ask for an injunction to block the use or further collection of the special dues increase and an order that every teacher and professor be given notice and allowed to obtain a refund, plus interest.

And believe it or not, they actually have a decent chance of winning.

In the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson (1986), 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 non-collective bargaining purposes. However, the CTA and CFA unions have failed to give educators any opportunity to object and have rebuffed those who have objected.

Isn’t it ironic that these unions would take money from their members for political purposes without their permission to fight an initiative that would prevent them from taking money from their members for political purposes without their permission?


Craig DeLuz

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www.craigdeluz.com

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