After filing suit in July against the Washington State Council of County and City Employees (WSCCCE) for violating the constitutional rights of 15 Thurston County employees, Freedom Foundation announced this month that the union had decided the settle the suit rather than fight it in court.
Back in January, a worker in the Thurston County assessor’s office learned that she could resign her official union membership and pay the union a reduced “representation fee” rather than full dues, an option created by U.S. Supreme Court rulings in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education and Chicago Teachers v. Hudson.
Each year, every union calculates what percentage of its budget is spent on negotiating and administering the collective bargaining agreement and what percent is spent on political and other nonessential activity. If the union determines that 40 percent of its budget goes to politics, then an “agency fee payer” will pay only 60 percent of the regular dues amount.
After learning of the option and discovering that WSCCCE only permits employees to become agency fee payers during the month of January each year, the employee shared the union’s opt-out form with her colleagues. About 20 completed and turned in the union’s form during the January window.
Instead of immediately directing the county payroll office to lower the dues deduction for the objecting employees, WSCCCE responded by initiating four months of harassment and intimidation.
In a letter acknowledging the receipt of the opt-out requests, WSCCCE’s deputy director, J. Pat Thompson, decried the Supreme Court rulings designed to protect workers’ First Amendment rights and neither agreed nor refused to process the employees’ requests.
As time went on, the union attempted to treat the objecting employees as nonmembers while still collecting full dues. When several objecting employees attempted to attend a February union meeting to vote in the union’s contract ratification election, they were berated by union reps and turned away.
But in March, all of the objecting employees received cards certifying their membership in good standing in the union. Employees’ repeatedly contacted union reps to determine the status of their opt-out requests and were told that processing them was “a low priority.”
When they approached the county human resources department about the issue, the employees were informed (correctly) that state law requires the county to deduct whatever dues amount the union tells them to. There was nothing the county could do.
In April, Thompson invited all of the objecting employees to attend a meeting to “review the concerns we have over your request.”
Those brave enough to attend were belittled and berated by Thompson, who said that they didn’t really know what they wanted. Thompson told the employees that he was refusing to process their requests and even threatened to initiate litigation against the employee who had spread the word about opting-out. Hannah Franks, another union rep, informed the employees that “we need the money to get our people into office.”
Frustrated and with no idea where to turn, two of the employees independently contacted Freedom Foundation for assistance.
After meeting with the employees and discussing their concerns, it quickly became apparent that the union’s behavior was blatantly unconstitutional and indefensible. Over the ensuing weeks, Freedom Foundation staff worked closely with the employees to impeccably document the long list of the union’s abuses.
Freedom Foundation filed suit against the union on behalf of the plaintiffs just prior to the Fourth of July.
The union’s position was entirely indefensible. Once their actions had been exposed, the union decided to fold and settle the case rather than attempt to defend its bullying in court.
Under the terms of the final settlement agreement, the union not only had to repay all of the dues it had illegally collected from the 15 employees since January, but it agreed to pay for Freedom Foundation’s legal costs, which totaled nearly $16,000.
“I simply wanted to contribute my excess fees to the charity of my choice, rather than allowing the union to spend the overcharge for me,” lead plaintiff Renee Conatore said. “If it hadn’t been for the Freedom Foundation, we wouldn’t have had anywhere to turn.”
To union-represented public servants, the victory sends a clear message that they do not have to face down union bullies alone. The message to Washington’s government unions is similarly unequivocal: respect the constitutional rights of the workers you represent, or face the full penalty of the law.
Even more important, the situation reveals the desperate need to reform state labor laws to give public employees real choices when it comes to workplace representation. Even if perfectly observed by government unions, state law leaves much to be desired. For instance, after an arduous 10-month battle to have their legal rights observed, the Thurston County employees will have to refile again in January just to maintain their agency fee payer status. If they forget to file, the union will automatically begin charging them full dues again.
The solution is neither complicated nor unreasonable. Under no circumstance should employees be required to pay dues or fees to a special interest group against their will. Freedom Foundation’s victory in this lawsuit is one small step towards achieving this ultimate goal.
County and city employees represented by the Washington State Council of County and City Employees (AFSCME, Council 2), may opt-out of paying for anything more than workplace representation by completing this form and mailing it to the union each January.
