Just one month after handing the U.S. Supreme Court several more chances to reinforce public-sector protections against predatory government unions, the Freedom Foundation’s momentum continues after filing two additional petitions to the justices in defense of workers’ rights: Deering v. IBEW 18 and Tanishia Hubbard v. SEIU 2015 plus Kristy Jimenez v. SEIU 775.
Six years ago this June, the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in Janus v. AFSCME, sending an unequivocal message that forcing public employees to financially support a union as a condition of employment is unconstitutional.
But Big Labor, in hot pursuit of funding for its divisive political agenda, has shown no restraint in its scheme to skirt the ruling, making it increasingly difficult for workers to exercise their constitutional rights.
The Freedom Foundation continues to witness this exploitation firsthand, litigating, for example, more than a dozen cases of membership cards forged by Big Labor in an attempt to squeeze every last penny out of America’s working class. In other cases, government unions restrict public workers to narrow revocation windows or ignore membership cancelations entirely, dictating how and when employees may exercise their rights.
As power-hungry government unions continue to shrug off the responsibilities of worker protection, the Freedom Foundation has assumed the role of what a union was always meant to be — a guardian of workers’ rights. To this end, the Freedom Foundation’s robust litigation counsel has sued corrupt unions on behalf of hundreds of public servants throughout the past decade.
Two new appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, filed by Freedom Foundation attorneys on May 10, reinforce this commitment to the defense of workers’ rights.
In Deering v. IBEW 18, Christopher Deering, a customer service representative for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, joined IBEW Local 18 after signing a dues authorization form granting him the explicit right to cancel membership at any time.
Yet, even after Deering requested to leave the union, IBEW 18 continued to collect hundreds of dollars from his paycheck over a period of eight months, citing a collective bargaining agreement between Deering’s union and government employer restricting his ability to cancel union membership to just one day per year: April Fool’s Day.
An additional appeal combines two cases surrounding membership authorization forms forged by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU): Tanishia Hubbard v. SEIU 2015 and Kristy Jimenez v. SEIU 775.
Both Hubbard and Jimenez are in-home care workers employed by the states of California and Washington, respectively. Hubbard cares for her disabled son, while Jimenez tends to several of her family members, including a son battling cancer.
While neither Hubbard nor Jimenez agreed to join a union, SEIU collected membership dues from both caregivers anyway. When challenged, SEIU presented electronic membership cards with clearly forged signatures from each of the women.
Siding with Big Labor and holding no one accountable for these illegal actions, the lower courts dismissed each of the above cases. The Freedom Foundation appeals to the Supreme Court to reconsider, hopeful the justices will reinforce First Amendment protections proclaimed explicitly by the Janus decision.
Though the Supreme Court made exceptional progress in protecting the rights of America’s public servants through Janus, there is much work to be done. Now, the Freedom Foundation has handed the court another opportunity to close loopholes in the Janus decision exploited by government unions that stop at nothing to ensure their pockets are lined with the paychecks of public employees.
Government unions know the Freedom Foundation is a force to be reckoned with. So long as union corruption persists, the organization will continue to champion workers’ rights, steadfast in its unceasing commitment to equal justice under law.
