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A PUBLICATION OF THE FREEDOM FOUNDATION | MARCH 2017
Showdown Lawsuit takes aim at ‘opt-out’ scheme unions use to skim off dues until told to do otherwise
Electronic Service Requested
Freedom Foundation PO Box 552 Olympia, WA 98507
T
he Freedom Foundation and SEIU 775 – one of the state’s largest and most politically active labor organizations – squared off on Feb. 23 in Washington State Supreme Court over the scheme by which the union has illegally siphoned millions of dollars in dues money from its members since 2014. At issue is SEIU 775’s policy of assuming workers are union members – and asking the state’s Department of Social and Health Services to deduct monthly dues on their behalf – until the workers take affirmative steps to opt out. “The entire scheme is upside-down,” said David Dewhirst, litigation counsel for the Freedom Foundation, which represents the plaintiff in this case and has filed dozens of lawsuits over the past three years targeting public-sector union abuses. “Imagine if a private organization like the National Rifle Association could simply decide everyone who owned a gun benefited from its work – whether they agreed or not – and just start deducting dues from their paychecks without permission,” he said. “That’s exactly what the union is doing, with the state’s blessing.” The suit, which names SEIU 775, DSHS and
By JEFF RHODES, Managing Editor
Gov. Jay Inslee as defendants, was filed by the Freedom Foundation on behalf of Miranda Thorpe, a homecare provider who cares for her daughter Sarena. When she became a caregiver, Thorpe made a conscious decision not to join SEIU 775, which represents around 35,000 Washingtonians being compensated with Medicaid funds for providing home healthcare services – typically to a disabled family member. Thorpe never signed a card or gave permission to take dues from her paycheck. But sure enough, she realized after a few months of providing care the state was still deducting full union dues every month. A Thurston County Superior Court judge rejected Thorpe’s claim and sided with the state and union. However, the Washington Supreme Court unanimously agreed to hear Thorpe’s appeal directly, bypassing the Washington Court of Appeals. The so-called “opt-out” policy was concocted by SEIU 775 and its allies in the governor’s office in 2014 following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that summer in Harris v. Quinn giving home healthcare providers like Thorpe the right to refuse to pay any dues or representation fees even in states like Washington that lack right-to-work laws. Prior to the ruling, the collective bargaining agreements negotiated by SEIU 775 and the state of Washington had always contained “union security” provisions that require every worker covered by the contract to either join or financially support the union or lose their jobs. In September 2014 – just three months after the Harris ruling was issued – representatives from SEIU 775 and the state of Washington reSee THORPE Page A10