August/September 2011

FoundationFoundation Th e bi-monthly newsletter of the National Right to Work ActionAction Legal Defense Foundation, Inc. Vol. XXXI, No. 4 8001 Braddock Road • Springﬁ eld, Virginia 22160 www.nrtw.org August/September 2011 Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, Wisconsin State Kristi Lacroix, a 13-year educator and current English teacher at the LakeView Employees Defend Technology Academy in Pleasant Prai- rie, fi led an amicus curiae brief in favor Right to Work of the pro-workplace freedom reforms in the federal court because she does not Protections like her hard-earned money being used to support Kenosha Education Association Foundation assists in union bosses’ political agenda. Badger State civil servants’ Foundation-won precedent battle against compulsory favors teacher union dues Kenosha teacher Kristi Lacroix: “I’m not “I’m in a union that gives money to against the union; I just don’t want to political organizations and candidates I MADISON, WI — As the battle over have to join it in order to teach.” don’t support,” she told the local paper Wisconsin’s recent public sector unionism aft er the brief was fi led. reforms continues to heat up, three pub- union bosses forced-dues and monopoly lic workers are answering the clarion call bargaining powers. to defend their recently-recognized Right see WORKERS DEFEND page 2 to Work without government union boss kenosha teacher fi les interference. In early June, the Wisconsin Supreme brief in favor of reforms IN THIS ISSUE Court upheld Governor Scott Walker’s re- Wisconsin’s new law frees public em- cently-enacted government-sector monop- ployees from paying compulsory union Boeing Workers Continue Fight oly bargaining reform bill, which sharply 3 Against Union Boss Retaliation dues and ends the practice of using tax- limits government union offi cials’ monop- payer resources to siphon dues into union oly bargaining power over public workers National Right to Work coff ers. Government union lawyers admit- and taxpayers by protecting the Right to Foundation Announces New ted that, under the reforms, public-sector 4 Work for most government employees and Addition to Legal Team union bosses would lose at least a quarter banning automatic forced-union-dues sei- of their forced-union-dues revenues. zures from public employees’ paychecks. Driver Wins NLRB Case against For example, Wisconsin teacher union 5 In response, AFL-CIO and Wisconsin Teamster Discrimination bosses would not be able to force inde- Education Association Council (WEAC) pendent-minded teachers to pay $5.4 mil- union lawyers desperately fi led a sec- lion in forced dues and $375,000 toward Foundation Attorneys Return ond lawsuit, this time in federal district 6 to U.S. Supreme Court teacher union boss politics. Th is high- court, seeking to overturn the law, claim- lights the need for a Right to Work law ing that freedom of association — the for Wisconsin’s workers in both the public 36th Annual CEAFU Conference right of American citizens to voluntarily Gives Teachers the Tools to and private sectors. 7 come together to express their opinions Fight Forced Unionism With free legal assistance from the Na- and petition the government — gives tional Right to Work Foundation and the 2 Foundation Action August/September 2011 Workers Defend Wisconsin Public Sector Right to Work continued from page 1 In Lacroix’s brief, Foundation attor- sin’s government-sector monopoly bar- on their freedom of association by forc- neys clearly lay out how the reform mea- gaining reform bill. ing them to associate with and contrib- sures are indeed legal and constitutional. ute money to organizations they have no Of course, Foundation attorneys have a interest in joining. long list of precedents that they have won “Despite mounting Prior to the enactment of Wisconsin’s re- before the U.S. Supreme Court to back budget deficits...Big form law, the three workers were forced to up Lacroix’s case. pay union dues and accept union “repre- For example, in Abood v. Detroit Board Labor operatives have sentation” to keep their jobs. Now grateful of Education (1976), Foundation attorneys made their position to be free of the burden of union boss in- successfully argued that compulsory union clear: no concessions, ference with their jobs, the workers believe dues for union boss politics violate dissent- that their intervention is necessary to give ing employees’ First Amendment rights. no compromise, and voice to other like-minded public employ- More recently, the Supreme Court unan- no surrender.” ees who want nothing to do with a union. imously ruled in Davenport v. Washington Education Association (2007) that, because Fight for workers and union bosses have no constitutional right Other workers encouraged taxpayers continues to collect fees from nonmembers, a state to join the fray may require union officials to obtain con- If granted, the employees’ intervention sent before spending nonmember govern- After news spread of Lacroix’s coura- would make them full participants in ment employees’ forced fees on political geous stand for her right to refrain from the lawsuit. And while the fate of many activities. The court reiterated that prece- supporting an unwanted union, two oth- of Wisconsin’s civil servants who have dent in the Foundation-supported Ysursa er Wisconsin civil servants joined her in no interest in associating with or paying v. Pocatello Education Association decision filing a motion to intervene in the case. dues to public-sector union bosses hangs (2009), when it ruled 6-3 that an Idaho law With continuing free legal aid from in the balance, the Foundation will con- banning payroll deduction for union polit- the Foundation and the Wisconsin Insti- tinue to fight for the Right to Work for all ical dues from state and local government tute for Law and Liberty, Nathan Berish, of America’s workers. employees is indeed constitutional. a teacher at Waukesha West High School “Despite mounting budget deficits and Foundation staff attorneys have won and Ricardo Cruz, a trust fund special- a public that demands accountability, Big numerous times at the United States Su- ist at the Wisconsin Department of Em- Labor operatives have made their posi- preme Court, establishing precedents that ployee Trust Funds, joined Lacroix to tion clear: no concessions, no compro- support the constitutionality of Wiscon- argue that union officials are infringing mise, and no surrender,” said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work. “But union boss intransigence shouldn’t Foundation Action be allowed to derail the necessary reforms that free Wisconsin teachers and Rev. Fred Fowler Chairman, Board of Trustees civil servants from being forced to pay Reed Larson Executive Committee Chairman union dues just to get or keep a job and Patrick Semmens Editor in Chief strip union operatives of their ability to Raymond LaJeunesse, Jr. Vice President and Legal Director drive up the cost of government.” Mark Mix President “We intend to vigorously defend the Foundation-won Supreme Court prece- Distributed by the dents that guarantee government employ- National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation, Inc. ees cannot be fired for refusing to subsi- 8001 Braddock Road, Springfield, Virginia 22160 www.nrtw.org • 1-800-336-3600 dize union boss politics and to withstand Big Labor’s all-out assault to restore its The Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by abuses of compulsory unionism. All contributions to forced-dues privileges over Wisconsin’s the Foundation are tax deductible under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. public workers,” added Mix. August/September 2011 Foundation Action 3 Boeing Workers Continue Fight Against Union Boss Retaliation Worker files federal charge against union officials; another testifies before Congress Charleston, SC — With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a group of Charles- ton, South Carolina-area Boeing employees are continuing at every level pos- sible their defense of their jobs from a retaliatory union boss attack. As reported in the last issue of Founda- tion Action, International Association of Machinist (IAM) union bosses in Seattle, Washington enlisted the help of President Barack Obama’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to take the unprecedented step of trying to halt Boeing’s production of its 787 Dreamliner airplane in South Carolina and force the company to in- Foundation President Mark Mix was in Seattle briefing local and national media on stead produce the planes in Washington the issue as the Foundation represents workers in the case. — thereby eliminating a thousand existing jobs and thousands more projected to be in the case, but only after the hearings — workers, are protected against the expan- created once production reaches full ca- occurring in Seattle — are concluded. sion of forced unionism,” added Mix. pacity in Charleston. Unfortunately, the NLRB’s half-mea- To that end, Boeing employee Dennis sure is just a ploy by the forced-unionism Murray, who spearheaded the effort to boot Labor board denies advocates on the Board to save face af- IAM union bosses from the plant to help at- workers full say in case ter the public outcry against the NLRB’s tract the new Dreamliner production line, persecution of Boeing’s decision to locate filed unfair labor practice charges against NLRB acting general counsel Lafe Solo- the new plant in a Right to Work state. the IAM union and its Seattle-based Local mon, who is holding the job even though The Board is quietly sweeping the work- 751 for retaliating against the workers for his permanent appointment is being ers’ stories under the rug while appear- removing the union from the workplace. blocked in the Senate, sided with IAM ing that they are not ignoring the work- union bosses and decided to prosecute ers in this case.

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