Freedom Foundation Files Unfair Labor Practice Complaint Against AFSCME After Union Refuses to Stop Dues Deductions for Toledo School Secretary

Arielle Brown
February 16, 2026

Sandra Nelson tried twice to stop paying union dues — AFSCME accepted her resignation but kept taking her money anyway

Toledo, OH — The Freedom Foundation today announced it has filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the Ohio State Employment Relations Board (SERB) against AFSCME Ohio Council 8 after the union refused to stop collecting dues from Sandra Nelson, a Toledo Public Schools secretary who properly resigned her membership — twice.

Nelson sent her first resignation letter to AFSCME in May 2025. The union wrote back in June accepting her resignation from membership — but informed her that dues deductions would continue.

To stop the money, AFSCME said, she would need to submit a second request during a narrow 15-day window in October.

Nelson tried again in October, mailing a second revocation letter on Oct. 22 — well within the union’s stated window. AFSCME waited more than two weeks to respond, then sent the same form letter — membership revoked, dues continue.

The union offered nothing but vague explanations to Nelson and has not stopped the deductions.

“AFSCME accepted Ms. Nelson’s resignation — twice,” said James Abernathy, senior litigation counsel for the Freedom Foundation. “They admitted she’s not a member anymore, but they kept taking her money anyway, even after she followed their rules and sent the second letter during the exact window they told her to use. This is just a union refusing to let go of someone’s paycheck.”

The complaint alleges AFSCME’s 15-day opt-out window violates Ohio law because it serves no purpose except to make it harder for workers to leave. And even if that window were legal, the union’s refusal to process Nelson’s October letter — sent during the window AFSCME itself created — violates her rights under Ohio law.

The Freedom Foundation recently filed another unfair labor practice complaint in Ohio against Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE) after the union refused to stop collecting dues from seven Symmes Valley school bus drivers who had properly resigned their membership.