School Teachers Denied Right To Intervene

Judgment On Union Compliance With I-134 Still To Be Decided

Olympia—In a ruling that diminishes the rights of citizens and increases the authority of state agencies, Thurston County Superior Court rejected teachers’ request to intervene in the recent settlement Attorney General Gregoire negotiated with their union, the Washington Education Association.

The only recourse now left to the teachers following the court’s rejection is the Evergreen Freedom Foundation/ Teachers for a Responsible Union (TRU) lawsuit against the WEA. After dismissing the intervention, the court heard arguments on whether or not I-134's workers rights provision (requiring prior permission for payroll deductions to be used for politics) applies to union payroll deductions. A decision has not yet been reached.

In their arguments, WEA/NEA claimed that section 42.17.680 of Washington state’s code, entitled "Limitations on employers and labor organizations" does not apply to labor organizations.

EFF/TRU took the opposite position: If I-134 did not apply to labor unions, EFF argued, the union would not have sought to deliberately circumvent the law, as both the Attorney General and the Public Disclosure Commission initially maintained. Indeed, as recently as January of this year, PDC Executive Director Melissa Warheit stated that the union’s elaborate scheme to avoid obtaining permission from teachers for political deductions "was a well-thought-out plan to get around the problem of the checkoff (prior permission)."

Following arguments, attorneys’ for the teachers union informed the court that their extended vacations and crowded schedules prevent the $43 million-a-year organization from supplying documents requested by EFF/TRU and from preparing their arguments regarding EFF/TRU’s challenge of the state’s new "guidelines."

The newly established PDC "guidelines," sanctioned by the AG this past February, in effect allow any portion of the union’s multimillion dollar annual take from Washington state teachers and public school employees to be used for political contributions. This new political blank check, given by the PDC and Attorney General Gregoire to all unions in the state and paid for by unwitting union members, is now in effect.

Contact: Marsha Richards, Communications Director, (360) 956-3482

Evergreen Freedom Foundation P.O. Box 552, Olympia, WA 98507 Phone: (360) 956-3482, Fax: (360) 352-1874 Email: effwa@effwa.org