9M Union Busting

Next month, National Right to Work Foundation attorneys will appear at the U.S. Supreme Court taking on a corrupt SEIU forced-unionism scheme.

Mark Mix asked me to make sure you saw his recent message about this critical battle. If you haven’t already, I hope you’ll read Mark’s message below.

In addition to this case, Foundation attorneys have recently asked the Supreme Court to hear a challenge to a scheme enacted by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn and his disgraced predecessor, Rod Blagojevich, aimed at forcing in-home care providers into union ranks.

If you can, please chip in with a tax-deductible contribution of $10 or more today to help the Foundation provide free legal aid to compulsory unionism victims in crucial cases like these.

Sincerely,

Sheila W.

From: Mark Mix [mark.mix@righttoworkfoundation.org]
Sent: Thursday, December 1, 2011 1:18 PM
To: Sheila W [sheila@righttoworkfoundation.org]
Subject: SEIU running scared

Dear Kelly Z.,

In just a few short weeks, National Right to Work Foundation attorneys will be confronting union lawyers at the U.S. Supreme Court…

…and the union bosses of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are on the run.

In fact, they’re desperate to avoid an embarrassing loss that would put a major crimp in Big Labor’s ability to misuse workers’ forced dues for politics across the country.

You see, in June, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of eight California civil servants, challenging a forced dues for politics scheme by an affiliate of the radical SEIU.

Now union officials want the Supreme Court to vacate the case and prevent them from delivering a crucial blow to an increasingly common Big Labor political fundraising tactic.

The union bosses’ cynical maneuver has forced the Foundation to throw extra resources into the case at a time when our strategic litigation program is already stretched thin due to the aggressively biased Obama National Labor Relations Board and union militancy on display from Wisconsin to Florida to California.

That’s why I need your continued help, but first let me explain what the Knox case is all about.

Back in 2005, California State Employees Association (CSEA) union chiefs demanded members and nonmembers alike pay a “special assessment” for a union political fund.

Specifically, union bosses seized workers’ money to defeat ballot measures that would have limited their ability to force employees to pay for Big Labor’s politics.

They said they had to have these “extra” millions to defeat the ballot initiatives…

…which they succeeded in doing.

That’s because these ballot initiatives would have limited union bosses’ monopoly power over government workers and their stranglehold on California taxpayers.

It was a classic forced dues for politics scheme — an obvious move to skirt around established precedents won by Right to Work Foundation attorneys protecting workers from these kinds of compulsory-unionism schemes.

The Supreme Court had already ruled in the Foundation’s Hudson case that government sector union bosses must provide employees with an audited breakdown of the union’s expenditures and an opportunity to opt out of paying any forced dues or fees used for politics.

But CSEA union bosses simply ignored the law with regard to the “special assessment” and denied workers any chance to opt out.

So Foundation attorneys filed a class-action lawsuit for eight California government workers, including two former union members, as representatives of more than 35,000 non-members forced to pay the political assessment.

A federal district court ruled against CSEA union bosses, ordering them to send a notice specifically about the assessment and refund any monies spent (plus interest) on union boss politics to non-members who exercise their right to refrain from subsidizing the union’s political fund.

But union lawyers appealed to a Big Labor-friendly Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel, which rubber-stamped the forced-dues scheme.

But then the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Foundation attorney’s request that it hear the case.

Because they fear that the Supreme Court will overturn the Ninth Circuit’s decision, SEIU union chiefs have now taken the unusual — but telling — step to offer the more than 35,000 California state employees the opportunity to get a refund of the entire “special assessment” with interest.

And they’ve asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the case as moot.

The Big Labor hierarchy fears that a Foundation victory in the Knox case will invalidate all future schemes imposing “special assessments” for politics without giving non-members an opportunity to opt out.

Union bosses want to make this case go away.

Just take a look at Wisconsin. Earlier this year, Governor Scott Walker signed a bill into law curtailing the ill-gotten monopoly bargaining powers of government sector union bosses.

The new law also protects the Right to Work for most state and local government employees in Wisconsin, cutting off forced dues that prop up the union bosses’ political power.

The union bosses fought back with angry protests and a recall campaign that ultimately failed to restore a forced-dues majority in the State Senate.

Now they’re trying to recall Governor Walker himself and have sued in federal court.

It just goes to show you the lengths Big Labor will go — and how much it will spend — to protect its power over workers and taxpayers alike.

The Knox case is no different. We caught CSEA union bosses red-handed.

But while a refund of all illegally-seized dues to the victimized California state workers is an important victory, we can’t back down now.

You see, even if the union bosses relent and return every dime plus interest, the fact remains that they shouldn’t have taken the money in the first place.

The union bosses took the money to spend on politics, which they did. Independent-minded workers who objected to the union’s political activity may find some solace in getting their money back, but the illegally-subsidized political speech can’t be unspoken.

That’s why they desperately want to avoid a ruling.

Big Labor’s duplicity is a clear signal that we’ve got it running scared.

Of course, no one can be certain what will happen. But this case is clear, and our argument especially powerful.

However, the sudden rush of events has forced me to devote crucial staff resources to the new developments in this important case.

You know I am a careful steward of the trust you place in the Foundation when you contribute.

Your Foundation wins cases that no other group in America can or will undertake.

And that’s why I count on you to help today by chipping in with a tax-deductible contribution of $10 or more.

A favorable U.S. Supreme Court ruling is vital to end this noxious union boss power play.

But it will take continuing action to kill off the scheme –root-and-branch — in every county and state.

That’s why I hope you will make every effort to chip in with a tax-deductible contribution of $10 or more.

Thank you for the trust you continue to place in me and your Foundation.

Sincerely,

Mark Mix

P.S. I expect that Big Labor’s scheme to issue a “special assessment” to force state government workers to subsidize union boss politics will be derailed by Foundation attorneys at the U.S. Supreme Court.

And once the U.S. Supreme Court rules, your Foundation will rip out similar schemes from coast to coast. Please support this critical project and all our legal aid cases by chipping in with a tax-deductible contribution of $10 or more.