Janus v. AFSCME | The Ohio Star

Teacher’s Assistant Sues Union, Ohio School District for Illegally Withholding Dues from Her Paycheck

February 21, 2024February 20, 2024 Ohio Star Staff

An Ohio teacher’s assistant who helps special needs students is suing her school district and former union because the district withheld union dues from her paycheck even after she left the union and formally asked it to cease taking her money.

“Using the coercion of government to take money from a government employee and give it to a union without the employee’s consent is not only egregious, but the Supreme Court has held that it’s unconstitutional,” Jeffrey Schwab, a senior counsel at Liberty Justice Center who represents the Ohio teacher’s assistant, told The Daily Signal in a written statement Monday.

Union Power Slips as Percentage of Union Jobs Declines

February 6, 2024 The Center Square

The percentage of hourly and salaried workers in a union decreased in 2023, continuing a trend of ongoing decline in the past few decades.

The decline in 2023 was small, from 10.1% of the workforce to 10% even, but the trend is significant. In 1983, about 20% of hourly and salaried workers were in a union, meaning U.S. union membership has halved in about four decades.

Data Show Public Sector Union Membership In Decline in the United States

April 30, 2022April 29, 2022 Susan Berry, PhD

Data available from state and local government payroll records – not readily available to the public – show “substantially steeper declines in public-sector union membership” in the United States.

“The best data available are state- and local-government payroll records,” Daniel DiSalvo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, wrote at City Journal Wednesday.

Ohio City Worker Sues Over Administrative Fees Related to Union

December 20, 2020December 19, 2020 The Center Square

A city employee in southwest Ohio says a union continues to collect money from his paycheck after deciding he did not want to be a part of the organization.

Timothy Crane, a city of Hamilton employee, filed a federal lawsuit against both the city and the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 20, claiming compulsory fees taken from his paycheck violate his First Amendment rights, according to a news release from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

Buckeye Institute Files Labor Union Appeal With U.S. Supreme Court

January 3, 2020January 2, 2020 Jason M. Reynolds

The Buckeye Institute announced Thursday it is filing an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on a case it has been fighting on behalf of a professor who has called for an end to laws that force public-sector employees like him to accept compelled union representation.

Workers Aren’t Entitled to Refunds for Mandatory Union Dues, 9th Circuit Says

January 2, 2020January 1, 2020 Admin

Public employees who paid mandatory dues to government unions are not entitled to refunds, despite a Supreme Court decision striking down such agency fee arrangements as unconstitutional, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.

Lawyers Will Ask Supreme Court to End Mandatory Membership and Financial Support of State Bars

December 30, 2019December 30, 2019 Ohio Star Staff

Wisconsin lawyers Adam Jarchow and Michael Dean will ask the Supreme Court to end mandatory bar association fees, which are common to the regulation of legal practice in at least 30 states.

Commentary: A Deep-Dive into the Other Deep State – Public Sector Unions

May 14, 2019May 13, 2019 Ohio Star Staff

by Edward Ring When government fails, public-sector unions win. When society fragments, public-sector unions consolidate their power. When citizenship itself becomes less meaningful, and the benefits of American citizenship wither, government unions offer an exclusive solidarity. Government unions insulate their members from the challenges facing ordinary private citizens. On…

Ohio’s Buckeye Institute Continues to ‘Fight Relentlessly’ in Minnesota Professor’s Union Case

May 1, 2019May 1, 2019 Mitch Shirley

Robert Alt, president of The Buckeye Institute, recently called on the U.S. Supreme Court to put an end to states forcing non-union members to pay union dues. The institute issued a press release after the Supreme Court denied to hear Kathy Uradnik’s case. After the certiorari was denied by…

JC Bowman Commentary: A Modern Approach to Educator Representation

July 14, 2018July 13, 2018 JC Bowman

Most educators are not buying into a more militant, progressive labor movement beholden to the far left. Educators nationally often spend hundreds, or sometimes even thousands of dollars per year on union dues. There are much more cost-effective alternatives, like Professional Educators of Tennessee. That is what makes groups like Professional Educators of Tennessee different. We offer a modern approach to educator representation, legal protection and unmatched educational advocacy, as well as promoting professionalism, collaboration and excellence without a partisan agenda. There are non-union alternatives for educators in other states as well. Nobody wants to return the 1950’s.

Steve Gill Commentary: The Californication of the Teachers’ Union

July 11, 2018July 11, 2018 Tennessee Star Staff

At the recent National Education Association (NEA) Annual Meeting, where Tennessee Education Association (TEA) representatives participated along with other affiliates across the country, the highly partisan NEA took strong positions against immigration reform and Republicans in general. They even gave an award to controversial former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick to…

The Tennessee Education Association Embraces the Union Label in Washington D.C., Denies It in Nashville

June 30, 2018June 29, 2018 JC Bowman

JC Bowman writes: “There are many other completely, independent non-union organizations now in America that represents public school educators, giving them a clear, non-union voice. This means they do not spend a large portion of their lobbying efforts and their political funds focusing on bills and causes that fall outside the scope of education.”

JC Bowman Commentary: SCOTUS Janus Decision Will Make Unions More Accountable to Their Members

June 28, 2018June 28, 2018 JC Bowman

The Janus Decision will not create drastic structural changes to unions. It will simply make them more accountable to their own members. And in the case of teacher unions, this greater accountability should focus on making the quality of education front and center, help public education rebuild support from the public for issues like raising teacher pay and school funding, and work for the common good of all students and educators.