Pennsylvania House Approves Forced-Unionism Amendment

Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives this week passed a measure to enshrine forced unionism in the state Constitution. 

The proposed law is identical to an Illinois Constitutional Amendment enacted last year. It would prevent lawmakers from adopting a “right-to-work” policy protecting nonunion workers from being forced to pay union dues. It would also counteract any state statute that checks labor organizations’ power, thereby vastly increasing public-sector unions’ bargaining clout. 

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Pennsylvania House Committee Passes Forced-Unionism Amendment

A bill to enshrine union coercion in the Pennsylvania Constitution passed the state House Labor and Industry Committee 12-9 on Monday. 

The measure, identical to an Illinois constitutional amendment that Prairie State voters narrowly ratified last autumn, would prevent adoption of a “right-to-work” law saying nonunion workers can’t be forced to pay union dues. More broadly, the amendment would counteract statutes that check the power of labor organizations and, opponents fear, give public-sector union contracts primacy over state law. 

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Pennsylvania Government Union Political Spending Skyrockets Even as Membership Declines

Even as Pennsylvania’s public-sector unions suffer net losses of members and dues, these groups continue to ramp up political donations, according to a new analysis by the Harrisburg-based Commonwealth Foundation (CF). 

According to the free-market nonprofit, spending from Keystone State government unions like the Pennsylvania State Education Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 13 totaled $6.34 million in the 2011-12 campaign cycle. That amount steadily rose over all gubernatorial and presidential cycles and reached a record $20.2 million in 2021-22. 

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Ohio Public Employees Sue AFSCME, Other Unions over Forced Dues Payments

Ten Ohio public employees this week sued in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas to stop labor unions from drawing money from their paychecks.

Lead plaintiff Lukas Darling worked in property enforcement for the Boardman Township Planning and Zoning Department and resigned as a member of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME) two years ago. The other nine petitioners have worked either in public schools or at a state agency. Each resigned as a member of either AFSCME, the Ohio Association of Public School Employees or the Ohio Education Association.  

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Ohio Custodians Sue Kent State and Union for Illegally Deducting Fees

  A group of custodians at Kent State University are suing their employer and its union representatives, who have continued to illegally deduct dues from their paychecks after they resigned their membership. The custodians, Annamarie Hannay, Adda Gape, and John Kohl, are being assisted in their legal challenge by The Buckeye Institute and the Liberty Justice Center, which represented Mark Janus in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling of Janus v. AFSCME. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional for government employers to withhold union dues from employees without their “affirmative consent.” As a result of that ruling, Hannay, Gape, and Kohl resigned their union membership and asked the university to stop deducting dues from their paychecks. The union, which happens to be the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), said in response that members can only opt-out of union membership “once per year during a 15-day window preceding the anniversary of their signature on a union card,” according to the lawsuit. The plaintiffs allege that AFSCME refused to honor their resignations outside of “arbitrary opt-out periods.” “AFSCME is putting money before workers. The union is violating workers’ constitutional rights by denying their resignations…

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Unions Have Lost Hundreds of Thousands of Members Since SCOTUS Decision on Forced Dues

by Tim Pearce   Three of the largest public sector unions in the United States have lost hundreds of thousands of members and agency fee payers since the Supreme Court banned forced dues last year, according to data reviewed by the Mackinac Center. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 27, 2018, in the case Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees ruled that forcing an employee to pay dues to a union in order to hold a government job violates that employee’s First Amendment rights. The court ruling freed millions of public employees from having to pay union dues and fees in order to hold a job working for the government. Federal filings reviewed by the Mackinac Center suggest that public sector unions have taken a significant hit from losing members and fee payers since the decision. Annual federal filings show that the National Education Association (NEA); American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME); and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have lost a combined 278,804 members and fee payers from each organization’s last report before the Janus decision to the first report after it. The NEA’s membership and fee-payer count dropped from 2,666,339 on…

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Minnesota Woman Becomes First in the Nation to Successfully Challenge Union’s ‘Window Period’ Scheme

A Brainerd public official has become the first in the nation to successfully challenge her union’s “window period” scheme in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Janus v. AFSCME decision. Sandra Anderson, a clerk for the City of Brainerd Police Department, filed suit against the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 31 last year after she attempted to resign her membership and stop paying dues, according to the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. Anderson was told she could only opt out of the agreement during a 10-day “window period” prior to either the anniversary of the city’s contract with IBEW or her date of employment. IBEW Local 31, an electrical union, entered into a monopoly bargaining agreement with the City of Brainerd in 2004 that required all city employees to either join the union or pay union fees. 2018’s Janus decision, however, ruled it unconstitutional to require public employees to subsidize labor unions, and further ruled that deducting union fees from an employee’s check without their affirmative consent violates their First Amendment rights. When Anderson asked IBEW Local 31 and the City of Brainerd to cease withholding union fees, she was told she could only…

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Janus Decision Could Restore Freedom to Choose to Opt Out of Public Sector Unions

Janus Decison Could Restore Freedom to Choose to Opt Out of Public Sector

By Natalia Castro   The Supreme Court is just days away from deciding a case that will alter the status of state and local public sector unions in the United States. Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (Janus)will determine an employee’s ability to opt out of state and local union dues. Mark Janus challenged his union for forcing him to pay a fine for refusing membership. Employees can already opt out of federal union dues. Thus, the Janus decision could effectively remove mandated union dues in the public sector at the state and local level entirely. Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun Times explains, Neil Gorsuch’s position on the Supreme Court leaves many expecting a 5-4 decision along partisan lines in favor of Janus, as it would be surprising for a constitutionalist jurist to back organized labor. A strong defense of the First Amendment dictates an employee should have the right to work for a government agency without union protection if the employee chooses and not be forced to pay a fine or any other penalty. Wrote Sweet of Gorsuch, “He will shock Supreme Court observers if he backs organized labor in this case.” A decision in favor of Janus…

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