Oregon public school employees stand up for their rights by taking on teachers’ union

Four Oregon public school employees filed suit against their union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), for refusing to honor their union resignation requests and not stopping dues deductions, according to a press release by the Freedom Foundation.

The plaintiffs, represented by attorneys from the Freedom Foundation, submitted union membership resignation letters to the local affiliate of AFT but were told that the membership cards they signed prior to the Janus decision bound them to an annual 30-day opt-out period and that they had to continue paying dues for a minimum of one year before deductions would cease. Such contrary terms are unions’ way of locking members into financially supporting the union even if the public employee opted out of membership.

“The issue is the union isn’t even following the terms of their own cards, which are contradictory,” said Rebekah Millard, Freedom Foundation litigation counsel.

“Instead of letting members out either a year after they signed a membership card or every June,” she said, “they’re saying both rules apply and keeping people in for the maximum amount of time, which can be months longer than would be the case if they applied just one window.”

This lawsuit is similar to other cases across the country—including in Minnesota—that are also challenging the unions’ vaguely worded dues authorization cards and tricky language written in very fine print on the bottom of the cards that lock public employees into paying the union money irrespective of membership status.

Read about the unions’ unscrupulous tactics to get Minnesota public employees to continue paying them here. The state’s public unions are deliberately creating obstacles and restrictive bureaucratic rules to prevent union members who wish to resign from doing so. But the Center will continue using its workplace freedom projects (EmployeeFreedomMN and EducatedTeachersMN) to stand up to big labor bent on undermining the First Amendment rights of American workers.