2006 COMMENTARY

March 16, 2006

State Supreme Court “turns First Amendment on its head!”
6-3 ruling places the statutory rights of Big Labor ahead of the Constitutional rights of individuals

Mike Reitz, director of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation’s Labor Policy Center, released the following statement in response to the Washington Supreme Court’s ruling that a law prohibiting unions from using non-member dues for political purposes is unconstitutional.

Today’s Supreme Court ruling strikes a terrible blow against the rights of workers in Washington state. There is now no protection for teachers’ First Amendment rights from violations by union officials. This harmful opinion was written by former-Justice Faith Ireland, who has been off the court for 15 months.

The Court agreed with the union’s argument that, regardless of how the union collects dues or how workers may feel about it, the union is free to spend the money as it pleases. The WEA argued in trial court that it has no fiduciary responsibility to the teachers it represents, and the Court affirmed that.

Justice Richard Sanders opened his dissenting opinion by quoting Thomas Jefferson: “to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.”

As Justice Sanders wrote, the decision by the majority “turns the First Amendment on its head” by allowing the statutory right of unions to collect dues to trump the Constitutional rights of teachers and other workers.

Justice Sanders rightfully pointed out the absurdity of the majority’s assumption that nonmembers want their dues used for politics:

This argument's flaw is at its foundation: association is a two way street requiring a mutual desire to associate by all concerned. But here nonunion employees have elected not to associate. This does not violate the associated rights of the union or its members since it had no constitutional right to compel membership much less monetary support from nonmembers in the first place.

This ruling, combined with the state employee union’s demand that state workers be fired for not paying union dues, demonstrates the extreme arrogance of Big Labor.

Three possible solutions exists that could address this shocking decision and come to the rescue of teachers and other workers who object to unions spending their money on politics: 1) Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna could defend the law by appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, 2) the legislature could end the state’s collection of nonmember dues through payroll deduction, or 3) the legislature or the people could pass a law making union representation optional.

Additional Information

6-3 Ruling | Justice Sanders' Dissent

Background
EFF filed a complaint on behalf of 5,000 teachers. In 2001, then-Attorney General Christine Gregoire sued the Washington Education Association (WEA) for its admitted intentional violations of the law. A Thurston County Superior Court judge ruled the union had violated the law and imposed a $590,000 penalty on the WEA.

The Court of Appeals, Division II, overturned this finding in 2003, ruling that the rights of union officials supersede the First Amendment free speech rights of teachers. More Background

The consolidated case:
Supreme Court No. 74268-5 - State ex rel. Public Disclosure Commission v. Washington Education Association

Supreme Court No. 74316-9 - Gary Davenport, et al., v. Washington State Education Association

RCW 42.17.760 - Agency shop fees as contributions.
A labor organization may not use agency shop fees paid by an individual who is not a member of the organization to make contributions or expenditures to influence an election or to operate a political committee, unless affirmatively authorized by the individual.

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