2 lawsuits challenge public-worker union dues

An individual and a group of public employees have filed separate class-action lawsuits in federal court in Columbus, challenging “fair share” union fees deducted from their paychecks.

In one suit, Nathaniel Ogle, who has worked for the Ohio Department of Taxation since 2011, said that he never agreed to be a member of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association/AFSCME Local 11, but fees have been deducted from his paycheck for union representation.

In the other, seven public employees from five counties said they’ve been subject to automatic fee deductions for AFSCME Council 8 representation even though they resigned from union memberships months ago.

“Unfortunately, rather than allow workers to decide freely whether or not to associate with and financially support a labor union, union bosses coast to coast have instead attempted to block workers from exercising their constitutional rights,” making these lawsuits necessary, said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which is providing legal counsel to the plaintiffs.

Chris Mabe, president of OCSEA, which represents about 30,000 stateand local-government employees, said the lawsuits are “yet another attempt to weaken the power of public employees and crush unions.”

He added that “our union members see through the scam. They know who these groups are. These are well-funded anti-worker, anti-public-employee groups funded by billionaires like the Koch brothers. The vast majority of our members are committed to sticking together so we can fight for better wages and benefits and respect for public employees.”

Both lawsuits were filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Columbus, about four months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such forced fair-share deductions are unconstitutional — “that unions could not constitutionally collect union dues or fees from public employees without their consent,” according to court documents.

That decision focused on public-employee unions, not private ones.

Ogle is seeking a refund of fair-share fees deducted from his paycheck, plus assurance that additional union fees will not be taken out without his consent.

OCSEA spokeswoman Sally Meckling said the union no longer requires fair-share fees and that employees can opt out.

The other case’s plaintiffs, who include two Franklin County employees, want the court to allow similarly situated workers to be able to resign from AFSCME Council 8 representation when they choose, not just within a 15-day period before new contracts take effect, as the union requires. They also want unspecified compensatory damages.