Teachers File Suit Over Forced Union Dues

Nineteen teachers sued the Los Angeles Unified School District and its teachers union Thursday over a new district policy that requires even non-union members to pay service fees to the labor organization.

The class-action suit, filed in federal court here by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, alleges that the district and United Teachers-Los Angeles are violating the constitutional rights of those who choose not to join the union but still must pay an “agency fee” for services provided by the union.

Also named as defendants in the suit are Supt. Leonard Britton and the school district’s chief business and financial officer, Robert Booker, and personnel director, Jon Campbell.

“The school board and union’s forced-dues procedure stomps all over the teachers’ rights. We’re weighing in on the side of the teachers and individual liberty,” said Rex Reed of the Right to Work group in announcing the suit.

The group wants an injunction blocking further paycheck deductions for the fees and seeks a refund of money already taken.

Richard K. Mason, special counsel to the district superintendent, said he had not seen the suit and could not comment on it. But, he added, the agency fee policy itself has a clear legal basis in the state’s Educational Employment Relations Act.

After a 12-year battle to get the agency fee from all teachers, counselors, nurses, school psychologists and librarians that it represents, UTLA got an election on the issue last fall. Mark Slavkin, who was elected to the Board of Education last spring with UTLA’s help, proposed the election, which was approved by the board 5 to 2. At the time of the December balloting, about 25,000 of the total 35,000 eligible to vote were union members, and the measure passed easily.

Beginning with paychecks issued March 2, non-union members were to be charged $347 a year for UTLA services, which include bargaining and representation in arbitrations and grievances. Until now, those services were provided free to non-union members.

Union members pay annual dues of $410, with the difference going to political campaigning, lobbying and recruiting--all activities on which agency fees cannot be spent. The California Supreme Court last fall ruled that the agency fee could be charged only to cover employee services.

The suit filed Thursday alleges the district illegally subtracted the same amount--$41--for members and non-members this month when it took the first of a series of mandatory payroll deductions to cover the fees. It also said the union failed to properly account for how the funds are to be spent and did not follow proper notification procedures.

A union representative acknowledged that non-union members were overcharged about $7 this month but said the money has been put into an escrow account while refunds are being prepared.

UTLA spokeswoman Catherine M. Carey said Thursday that union leaders had not yet reviewed the suit but were confident they would prevail.