National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation

If transparency is one of the Obama administration's highest orders of business, it hasn't made much of an appearance at the Department of Labor (DOL). On January 20, immediately following the inauguration ceremony, President Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, issued a memorandum advising federal agencies to extend by 60 days the effective date of all regulations not yet published in the Federal Register. That gave the DOL under Secretary Hilda Solis exactly the wiggle room it needed to rescind new requirements to the annual financial reporting form for larger unions, LM-2, finalized during the waning days of the Bush administration.

A federal judge in Oklahoma June 5 upheld the central provisions of the state's newly adopted right-to-work law, which guarantees Oklahoma workers the right to choose whether to pay union dues.  Oklahoma voters approved the constitutional amendment on Sept. 25, 2001.  In November, seven unions and a pipeline services company in the state filed a federal lawsuit, claiming  that certain provisions of the amendment were preempted by federal labor law, and that the whole statute should be thrown out. (Local 514, Transport Workers Union v. Keating, E.D. Okla., No. CIV-01-633-S, 6/5/02).

However, Judge Frank H. Seay (E.D. Okla., Carter) held that while the Right to Work law cannot be enforced with regard to the limited number of employees laboring under the Railway Labor Act, the law clearly and constitutionally applies to employees who work for private companies under the National Labor Relations Act.  The vast majority of Oklahoma employees fall under the NLRA's jurisdiction, and are thus protected by the Right to Work law.  Clarifying the limits of the Right to Work law's jurisdiction, Judge Seay upheld the remaining portions of the law.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has ruled Mar. 22 that Cal. professors may not  challenge the new state law that allows state and union officials to determine the acceptability of religious beliefs when employees seek an exemption  from the requirement to pay union dues.  The Cal. Faculty Ass'n initially sent a notice to 14,000 non-union  professors that a religious accommodation could be obtained only if they were a member of an approved  church - as stated in the statute. But later, CFA attorneys filed a sworn declaration with the court that despite its previous statements to 14,000 professors, the CFA union does not apply the statute as actually  written - or as advertised to this very day on the  union's web site. Based on that declaration filed  with the court only, the court ruled that the professors do not have standing to challenge the law even if it violates employees' freedom of association under the First Amendment.

In a precedent-setting 9-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has upheld the sovereign right of Native American reservations to pass Right to Work laws to protect workers from being forced to pay union dues.  The ruling announced today advances the Nat'l Right to Work Legal Def. Fdn.'s battle to protect Right to Work laws around the country. The decision affirms that the 300 Native American reservations across America may pass Right to Work laws to limit forced unionism. Attracted to growing economies, union organizers have made increasing efforts in recent years to unionize companies on reservations. This ruling clears the path for tribal governments to act without interference from the federal government.

"Not only is this a tremendous victory for Native American workers and reservations around the country, but also for the Right to Work movement," said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of NRTWLDF, which provided free legal aid to the Pueblo in the case. "In addition to preserving individual rights, Right to Work laws will help to bring new business and economic growth to these long-impoverished regions."