Columbus, OH – The Buckeye Institute has secured the first major post-Janus v. AFSCME legal victories for two of its clients.
In cases in Maine and Minnesota, a public-sector union granted a member’s demand to immediately cancel full union membership and cease withholding union dues, without requiring the union member to wait weeks or months until the designated opt-out window or comply with any other opt-out rules or procedures—any of which would be unlawful under Janus.
“We are very pleased that unions recognize that they have no choice but to comply with the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Janus v. AFSCME, which protects the First Amendment rights of public employees and applies not just to agency-fee payers, but to all union members,” said Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute, and one of the lead attorneys for both of these two clients. “By abandoning the kind of opt-out regime that was explicitly rejected by the Supreme Court in Janus, the Inter Faculty Organization in Minnesota and the Associated Faculties of the Universities of Maine have taken an important first step for all other public-sector unions to follow.”