UC workers sue over difficulties in opting out of union dues

A conservative organization has sued a union representing University of California workers, claiming its process for opting out of union membership dues is impossible to navigate.

The complaint filed Tuesday on behalf of seven employees describes an unnecessarily complex process that left workers reliant on union representatives who would not return phone calls for months. It alleges the process violates the workers' First and 14th Amendment rights in Marsh v. AFSCME Local 3299, 19CV01113 (E.D. Cal., filed Nov. 26, 2019).

"Plaintiffs object to these deductions and have tried repeatedly to navigate the union's requirements for ending the deduction of these dues," argues the complaint filed by Mariah R. Gondeiro, litigation counsel with Freedom Foundation. "The union has created a system under which it is effectively impossible to resign union membership or revoke union dues and fee deductions."

The union represents about 25,000 non-academic University of California employees, including service workers and medical technicians. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson said the Local 3299 represents the system's "lowest-paid employees."

The complaint is part of a flood of litigation that has followed the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, 2018 DJDAR 6308. This ruling allowed workers to opt out of fair share fees, charged by the union to non-members in relevant jobs to compensate the union for bargaining wages and benefits on their behalf. Freedom Foundation submitted an amicus brief in the case in support of the Janus plaintiffs.

MILLARD

The complaint seeks to force Local 3299 to rewrite its procedures for opting out of these fees, to invalidate a portion of its Collective Bargaining Agreement, and the retroactive return of fees paid since each plaintiff attempted to opt out.

It also seeks to invalidate a section of the state Government Code that lays out how workers may leave the union and the authority to deduct dues. That code section is invalid post-Janus, Gondeiro said, which is why the complaint also names Attorney General Xavier Becerra.

"The state Government Code authorizes the dues deduction scheme," said Gondeiro, who was joined in the filing by Rebekah Millard, also of the Freedom Foundation. "The CBA as well gives the union complete control to determine whose wages the university deducts dues from."

Union spokesman Todd Stenhouse said in an email, "AFSCME 3299 represents 26,000 of the lowest paid employees at the University of California -- principally women and people of color who devote their lives to physically demanding public service jobs under constant threat of outsourcing, wage and benefit cuts. The Freedom Foundation is an anti-union front group backed by a who's who of right wing billionaires like the Koch Brothers, and has spent millions of dollars from undisclosed donors trying to get workers to stop standing up for their rights on the job. No serious person believes that these wealthy ideological extremists are actually interested in helping the workers we represent win better pay, benefits or more job security. Instead, this lawsuit seeks only to expand power for the wealthy and undermine unions at the expense of the most vulnerable workers in our economy."

Gondeiro said. "We're not lobbying political activity, we're not engaging in political speech. Under the law we are protected from giving out all of our donors' information."

The Olympia, Washington-based group has chapters in several states. The organization's telephone hold message invites listeners to visit a website that instructs people on how to avoid paying public employee union dues.

The group sued several teachers unions and school districts earlier this year over a policy that requires workers to continue to pay dues "until the expiration of the unions' collective bargaining agreements with the defendant government districts." Kurk v. Los Rios Classified Employees Association, 19CV00548 (E.D. Cal., filed March 28, 2019).

That same month, it sued on behalf of a Fremont teacher who claimed her union would not let her opt out of dues. Mendez v. California Teachers Association, 19CV01290 (N.D. Cal., filed March 11, 2019).