SAN JOSE, Calif.—The union Service Employees International Union local representing local government
employees in Central California is the latest to get hit with a lawsuit demanding that it refund fees paid by nonmembers. The National Right to Work Foundation filed a claim seeking “millions of dollars” from Service Employees International Union Local 521 on behalf of William Hough, a Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority worker, citing the Supreme Court’s June decision that it was unconstitutional for public-sector unions to charge nonmembers “fair-share fees” to cover the cost of representation. Anti-union groups have filed more than 30 similar suits since the decision, including one against SEIU Local 1000, California state government’s largest union. Unions argue that the suits are frivolous harassment, because the fees were completely legal before the Supreme Court decision forbidding the practice, they say. “This lawsuit is straight out of the playbook of the National Right to Work Foundation, which is one of many front groups for wealthy billionaires who want to divide me and my co-workers and weaken our union,” Tammy Dhanota, chair of Local 521’s Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority chapter, told the Sacramento Bee. Read more
