California: Non-Union Workers Get Rebate
According to the SacBee.com:
A federal judge has ordered the state's largest public employee union to repay as many as 28,000 non-union state workers who were not given a chance to challenge a 2005 dues increase to fight initiatives backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Judge Morrison England, in a decision Thursday, ordered Service Employees International Union Local 1000 to send notices to the workers who opted out of union membership. The union must issue refunds, with interest, to those non-union members who object to the special assessment. The rebate would amount to $135 plus interest for a worker who made $4,500 a month in 2005.
The special fee raised $12 million to fight Schwarzenegger's agenda, about a quarter of which was paid by state workers who chose not to join the union.
One Schwarzenegger-backed initiative would have required public employee unions to get written permission from members to use dues for political purposes. Another would have given governors broad budget-cutting powers.
"This is an opportunity for the state employees to reclaim the special assessment money that was taken from them unlawfully and used to advocate political causes they might disagree with," said Justin Hakes, spokesman for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation in Virginia, which provided legal advice to the state workers who sued.
Jon Jumper, a tax auditor for the state Employment Development Department in Anaheim, said he signed onto the lawsuit when he found out about the special assessment from a co-worker.
"I'm tickled," he said. "I can't stand the union." He said the union does little to help state workers, while bolstering its own budget with dues...click to continue.
