WFB: A pair of healthcare workers in the Northeast have filed lawsuits alleging that labor leaders have blocked them from resigning even after the Supreme Court ruled that mandatory public sector membership is unconstitutional.
William Neely, a Pennsylvania-based psychiatric aide, has accused American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 13 of refusing to honor his resignation. Neely was a dues paying member of the organization for 15 years before requesting to cut ties in July, shortly after the Supreme Court ruled that government agencies could no longer require paying union fees as a condition of employment. The union, according to the suit, has continued to deduct from Neely’s paychecks because its contract does not honor resignation until June 2019.
“Mr. Neely spoke about his resignation by telephone with various AFSCME and Council 13 officials and staff representatives who acknowledged receipt of Mr. Neely’s resignation letters but told Mr. Neely that he could not resign,” the suit says.
When Neely reached out to his employer to cease fee payments to AFSCME he was told that payroll “could not stop the deduction of union dues from his wages without authorization from Council 13.”
AFSCME did not return request for comment.
Connecticut nurse practitioner Cheryl Spano Lonis had a similar experience when she attempted to end her membership in Service Employees International Union District 1199 New England. Spano Lonis, a worker in the state Corrections Department, has been fighting to withdraw from SEIU since 2015 when she determined that the union’s political activities were inconsistent with her religious beliefs. While labor law allows conscientious objectors to steer fees to charitable causes instead of funding the union, SEIU failed to approve her charities. Its leaders did not honor any of her resignation requests and pocketed thousands of dollars in full dues over the next three years.
“Union officials treated me like an ATM,” Spano Lonis said in a statement. “They ignored their own rules, violated my rights, and misused my money. I did everything I could to ensure my money wasn’t used by union officials for purposes that violate my moral and religious beliefs.” MORE
What never ceases to amaze me is that the unionistas insist that Right to Work hurts workers.
Unions are just massive organized theft rings.
The brainwashed unionist muppets eat that shit up, wear their red shirts, and march in lockstep to the beat of communist bullshit.
I left the union and got a 20,000 dollar a year raise — unions hold back good workers and award dumbfucks. Fuck ’em.
I hate mandatory and predatory unions. Yes, there was once a decent justification for unions but that reason’s long gone. Being told you MUST join a union in order to get a job is plain wrong.
But the main reason for my visceral dislike comes from my one brief membership. In 1967 I worked as a file clerk in the D.C. office of the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund. Since I was working FOR the union it didn’t seem that unreasonable that they’d want me to be a member, so OK. Those of you old enough might remember that the UMW president at the time was one Anthony “Tough Tony” Boyle. Tony Boyle was fighting with some dissident UMW people for control of the union. His main antagonist was Joseph “Jock” Yablonski. In 1969, Tony sent some goons to Jock’s house and they murdered him. His wife and daughter were there, so they were murdered, too. The three bodies were found by Jock’s son Kenneth.
Boyle was sentenced to three life terms for the murders. I don’t remember what the goons got, probably the same.
And THAT is why I loathe unions. Some of the shit they’ve pulled since then, this story included, has deepened my loathing.
But, but, the unions are exempt from court orders.
Didn’t Obama say so?