Columbus, OH – On the heels of its two previous lawsuits filed in federal district courts in Minnesota and Ohio following the Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME decision, The Buckeye Institute filed its third lawsuit and corresponding preliminary injunction in Maine calling for an immediate end to laws that compel public-sector employees who have refused to join a union to accept forced union representation.
The three lawsuits challenge the constitutionality of compelled exclusive representation, in which a government agency appoints a representative to speak on behalf of employees, in their names. The most recent case was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maine on August 10 (with a preliminary injunction motion filed on August 16) on behalf of Jonathan Reisman, an associate professor of economics at the University of Maine at Machias who served as the Associated Faculties of the Universities of Maine’s grievance officer.
“As his local union’s grievance officer, Mr. Reisman understood and greatly valued the role of his local union. But he could accept neither being forced to support a national and state union that advocated for a partisan agenda with which he disagreed nor having a union advocate for that agenda in his name, as his appointed representative,” said Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute and an attorney on the case. “In filing this lawsuit, and others like it across the country, The Buckeye Institute is calling for an end to the unconstitutional, un-American, and unfair practice of compelled ‘exclusive representation.’ It is long past time to recognize that public employees have the same right to speak for themselves that everyone else has.”
As a public-school teacher who has been teaching Spanish to high school students in Marietta for 15 years now, I cannot imagine a more rewarding job.
However, in order to practice my beloved profession, I was forced to pay approximately $14,000 to the union over the course of my career. The exact amount is as indecipherable as Cretan hieroglyphics and just as shrouded in mystery. These fees were extracted from me even though I profoundly disagreed with how those funds were spent and with the “representation” my union purportedly conducted on my behalf.
That money was used on a political agenda, which even included — as I discovered in 2010 — a political campaign waged against my own husband who was then running for office. Imagine my dismay when I received political propaganda against my husband’s candidacy that was paid for and mailed by an organization related to my own union.
Columbus, OH – Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME decision, The Buckeye Institute filed two separate lawsuits and corresponding preliminary injunctions calling for an immediate end to the laws that force public-sector employees to accept their union’s representation.
“The Janus decision was an important victory for hardworking public servants across the country, but many of these same employees are still forced to accept their union’s representation that they didn’t ask for and do not want,” said Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute and a lead attorney for both plaintiffs. “The two cases The Buckeye Institute has filed call on the courts to immediately end compelled ‘exclusive representation.’ These capable public servants have the right to speak for themselves and should be released from forced association with unions and advocacy with which they disagree.”
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.”
