Author: Jacob Posik

    How do Maine’s public unions spend their members’ dues money?

    How do Maine’s public unions spend their members’ dues money?

    February 3, 2021 by Jacob Posik in

    For some public employees, union membership feels compulsory. It seems everyone they work with is a member of the union, and therefore feel compelled to join as well. However, union membership is truly a choice thanks to the Supreme Court’s ruling in Janus v. AFSCME in June 2018. Because of the decision, public employees across the country can now choose to be a member or nonmember, and unlike before, nonmembers cannot be required to pay dues or fees to the union without their consent.

    For workers who decide membership is right for them, they might be surprised to learn about the activities their union engages in that are not germane to its representational activities or the benefits it offers its members. Some of the largest unions in Maine, including the Maine Education Association and the Maine Service Employees Association (SEIU Local 1989), engage in a fair amount of political activity of which their members may not be aware or support.

    Before we dive into the specifics, it’s important to note the limitations of this data. The Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 requires unions representing private-sector employees to file disclosures annually with the Office of Labor Management Standards. These reports include information about the union’s membership, dues and fees, and accounting of how the organization spent its money over the past year.

    As noted by the Freedom Foundation, the information contained in a union’s LM-2 report is only as trustworthy as the union reporting it. Some unions file obviously inaccurate reports that include rounded or approximated figures, while others report no change in union membership for several years in a row. In addition, state or local union affiliates representing only public employees do not have to file LM-2 reports, which can make it difficult to discern membership totals for unions in certain states. In addition, when a union files an LM-2 report, it means, by definition, that some private-sector employees are included in its membership totals, which makes it difficult to isolate and identify changes in the union’s public-sector membership rate.

    According to the LM-2s filed by the Maine Education Association between 2017 and 2020, the organization spent more than $2.8 million to influence public policy in Maine. The organization routinely spends between $600,000 and $800,000 annually on politics and lobbying. Over the four-year period, the organization spent as much as $750,000 in 2019 on politics and lobbying and as low as $633,000 in 2018.

    The Maine Service Employees Association (SEIU Local 1989) also engages in a considerable amount of political spending, though not to the same extent as the state’s largest teacher’s union. According to the LM-2s filed by the Maine Service Employees Association between 2017 and 2019 (the organization’s 2020 annual report has not yet been filed), the group spent more than $700,000 on politics and lobbying. Based on its recent annual reports, the organization spends between $200,000 and $300,000 annually on these activities. In 2019, the organization reported spending a high of more than $274,000 in 2019 and a low of $207,000 in 2018 over the period.

    Both the Maine Education Association and the Maine Service Employees Association (SEIU Local 1989) are top donors to Rebuild Maine, a political action committee that is hyperactive in Maine politics. More information about Rebuild Maine’s involvement in Maine political campaigns can be found here. In addition, both organizations are members of “Maine Votes” whose partners include the Maine AFL-CIO, Maine Conservation Voters, the Maine People’s Alliance and Planned Parenthood Maine Action fund. Rebuild Maine calls itself the organization in Maine that “anchors independent expenditure activity in legislative races.” In short, the organization exclusively supports progressive political candidates and causes in Maine politics. My guess is many school teachers and state employees working in executive branch departments do not know the dues and fees they pay to their union are being used in this manner, to support political causes with which they may disagree.

    Curious if your union engages in extensive political spending with which you disagree? Use the Union Search tool on the U.S. Department of Labor’s website to learn more.

    A Maine professor suing faculty union is appealing his case to the Supreme Court

    A Maine professor suing faculty union is appealing his case to the Supreme Court

    January 9, 2020 by Jacob Posik in

    Jonathan Reisman, an associate professor of economics and public policy at the University of Maine at Machias, is appealing his case, Reisman v. Associated Faculties of the University of Maine (AFUM), to the U.S. Supreme Court.

    On Friday, Jan. 2, The Buckeye Institute, the organization representing Reisman in his case, filed an appeal to SCOTUS calling for an end to laws in Maine and other states that force public-sector employees to accept compelled union representation. This process, called exclusive representation (a policy for which unions advocate), prevents nonmember employees in a bargaining unit from representing themselves in matters with their employer.

    In 2018, the high court ruled in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) that public employees cannot be required to pay dues or fees to a labor union as a condition of employment. Before Janus, nonmember public employees were compelled to pay “agency fees” to a union for the cost of the organization’s representational activities concerning the employee, despite rejecting the union’s representation by refusing to join or opting out of membership.

    SCOTUS ruled this practice violates the First Amendment rights of public employees. Reisman is asking the high court to consider exclusive representation laws under the same principle. If compelled payments to a union violate a public employee’s First Amendment rights, compelled representation must also violate employee’s rights.

    “Professor Reisman is a hardworking public employee who has for many years been forced to associate with a union with which he disagrees and suffer it to speak for him,” said Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute and a lead attorney on the case. “If state law cannot compel public employees to financially support union advocacy — as the court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME — how can states require these same public employees to accept representation from unions that many of them have chosen not to join? These are serious questions about the constitutionality of exclusive representation — questions which the U.S. Supreme Court needs to address.”

    “Despite resigning his union membership, Professor Reisman is required by Maine law be represented by a union with which he does not agree and of which he is not a member,” said Andrew M. Grossman, a partner at BakerHostetler in Washington, D.C., and counsel of record on the Reisman v. AFUM petition. “Following the Court’s landmark Janus ruling, it is clear that these laws are unconstitutional, and we hope the Court will recognize them as such.”

    Reisman formerly served as a grievance officer with his union before resigning his membership after the Janus decision. His former union, AFUM, is affiliated with the Maine Education Association and the National Education Association, which has taken political stances that Reisman finds objectionable.

    While the outcome of Janus freed him from the requirement of either joining the union or being forced to pay representation fees, Maine law still forces AFUM to be Reisman’s exclusive representative, meaning he is still associated with the positions the union takes.

    If the Supreme Court agrees to hear Reisman’s case and rules in his favor, the First Amendment rights of public employees to represent themselves in matters with their employer would be restored. The end result is true freedom of speech and association, not compelled speech and association as required by state labor law.

    The Buckeye Institute is also representing public employees in other post-Janus lawsuits throughout the country, including Kathy Uradnik of St. Cloud State University in Uradnik v. Inter Faculty Organization and Jade Thompson, a Spanish teacher in Ohio, in Thompson v. Marietta Education Association.

    Maine’s Legislative Council votes to undermine the First Amendment rights of public employees

    Maine’s Legislative Council votes to undermine the First Amendment rights of public employees

    October 25, 2019 by Jacob Posik in

    The Legislative Council on Wednesday met to vote on nearly 400 bills submitted by lawmakers for consideration in the second session. Despite a number of non-emergencies being admitted into the second session, lawmakers turned down a bill where an emergency case actually exists.

    The bill request, LR 2828, sponsored by Rep. Dick Bradstreet of Vassalboro, would have brought state law into compliance with the Supreme Court’s 2018 ruling in Janus v. AFSCME. In Janus, the high court ruled that public employees cannot be compelled to pay dues or fees to a labor union without first affirmatively consenting to pay. The ruling states:

    “The First Amendment is violated when money is taken from nonconsenting employees for a public-sector union; employees must choose to support the union before anything is taken from them. Accordingly, neither an agency fee nor any other form of payment to a public-sector union may be deducted from an employee, nor may any other attempt be made to collect such a payment, unless the employee affirmatively consents to pay.”

    Currently, Maine law is at odds with the SCOTUS ruling. In the collective bargaining laws governing municipal public employees, state employees, University of Maine System employees and judicial employees, state statute says a public employee can refrain from joining a union, “except that an employee may be required to pay to the organization that is the bargaining agent for the employee a service fee that represents the employee’s pro rata share of those expenditures that are gemaine to the organizations representational activity.”

    These four sections of law must be changed because, under Janus, an employee cannot be required to pay fair share fees. Fees, dues and other payments can only be deducted if a worker affirmatively consents to pay.

    The legislative request failed on Wednesday by a 6-4 vote, with Reps. Kathleen Dillingham and Trey Stewart, and Sens. Jeff Timberlake and Dana Dow voting in favor while Reps. Matt Moonen and Ryan Fecteau and Sens. Nate Libby and Eloise Vitelli voted in opposition. House Speaker Sara Gideon and Senate President Troy Jackson also voted against the measure.

    LR 2828 should be accepted into the second session and easily passed because conforming to federal labor law is not a partisan issue. State law currently violates the First Amendment rights of public employees, whose rights were also under assault in the first session. Public sector unions and their allies in the Maine Legislature are doing everything they can to prevent public employees from understanding their First Amendment rights under Janus, and by denying this request on Wednesday, are actually undermining constitutional protections for public employees.

    A year after Janus, many Maine public workers are still unaware of their rights

    A year after Janus, many Maine public workers are still unaware of their rights

    June 28, 2019 by Jacob Posik in

    This week marks the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME, in which the high court ruled that public-sector employees could no longer be compelled to financially support a union. While the ruling was a historic victory for First Amendment rights, many public workers are still unaware of how the ruling affects their employment and workplace.

    Under Janus, public workers can no longer be required to pay agency fees (commonly referred to as “fair share” fees), or payments taken from a worker’s paycheck to compensate a labor union for its representational activities. Before Janus, these funds were deducted from workers’ paychecks, even though these workers were not members of the union.

    Click here to continue reading Jacob Posik’s column as published in the Portland Press Herald.