"Whadda'ya mean youse don't wanna contribute to the political fund?"
Last week, I posted an article on a pro-union presentation and speech by a UC-Irvine law professor and Steve Matthews, head of a SEIU local union in Riverside. During his talk, Matthews made reference to COPE funds, which he said were voluntary contributions from union members to be used for political purposes.
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2011/11/trumpeting-unions-at-uc-irvine-law.html
Below is the text of an e-mail I got today from Mark Mix of the National Right to Work Foundation concerning a lawsuit they have brought which seems to be tied right in with this issue.
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"Dear Gary,
Your National Right to Work Foundation is headed back to the United States Supreme Court... and the union bosses are in full panic.
The Supreme Court announced last week that it will hear oral arguments on January 10 in Knox v. Service Employees International Union Local 1000, a case brought by Foundation attorneys.
Fearing an embarrassing loss, union lawyers have now begged the Supreme Court to toss out the case after offering to pay back all of the money to objecting employees.
Simply put, we caught the union bosses red-handed.
Big Labor desperately wants to sweep the case under the rug so other union bosses across the country can continue what is an outrageous and increasingly common forced dues for politics strategy.
Let me tell you more about this case.
In the class-action lawsuit, Foundation attorneys are providing free legal aid to eight California government workers, including two former union members, challenging a corrupt political fundraising scheme.
You see, back in 2005, SEIU Local 1000 union bosses demanded a "special assessment" to raise money from every single state employee covered by a union monopoly bargaining contract for a union political fund.
Union bosses claimed they needed these "extra" millions to defeat ballot initiatives that would limit their monopoly power over government workers and stranglehold on California taxpayers -- demonstrating once again how forced dues corrupt the political process.
But, thanks to previous Right to Work Foundation victories at the Supreme Court, union bosses cannot compel independent workers to pay dues or fees that fund union politics.
In 1986, the Court unanimously ruled in Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson that government-sector union bosses must provide employees with an audited breakdown of the union's expenditures and an opportunity to challenge the union's calculations of any forced dues or fees.
SEIU union bosses simply ignored the law with regard to the "special assessment" and denied workers any chance to opt out.
In 2008, a federal district court ruled against SEIU union bosses, requiring that they provide workers their rights under Hudson and refund any monies spent (plus interest) on union-boss politics to nonmembers who exercise their right to refrain from subsidizing the union's political fund.
A panel of the ultra-liberal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals -- Big Labor's favorite appeals court -- overturned that decision, effectively encouraging union bosses to seize forced dues for politics from unwilling workers.
Allowing the Ninth Circuit's ruling to stand would further undermine state employees' First Amendment rights, so we took our case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
A Foundation-won precedent at the Supreme Court would provide additional protections to every government employee across the entire country.
That's why Big Labor wants to make the case just go away. But we are determined to not let that happen.
The union bosses' cynical maneuver is a tacit admission to the effectiveness of the Foundation's legal aid program made possible by the generosity of our supporters.
Sincerely,
Mark Mix
P.S. The Foundation relies completely on voluntary contributions from its supporters to provide free legal aid.
Please chip in with a tax-deductible contribution of $10 or more today to support the Foundation's programs.
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, is assisting thousands of employees in nearly 200 cases nationwide. The Foundation's mailing address is 8001 Braddock Road, Springfield, Virginia 22160. Its web address is www.nrtw.org/.
To help the National Right to Work Foundation grow; please forward this to a friend.
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Go get'em, Mark.
I would sooner donate to whatever attenuated survival of the American Nazi Party may be lurking in our republic than to the National Right to Work for Less Committee. They are, at best a Nazi wolf in the sheep's clothing of "individual liberty," a commodity wage workers would have none of, if the wolves had their way.
ReplyDeleteThey may have a case in this instance, but they are overplaying their hand if they think anyone is shaking in their boots over it. The union from which I hold a withdrawal card in good standing (it means I don't have to pay initiation fees a second time if I go back to work in a bargaining unit) made voluntary appeals for COPE funds at union meetings. Some members responded. That's the money they had to work with. It was money well spent.