by Scott McClallen
The National Right to Work Foundation filed an amicus brief at the Michigan Supreme Court opposing a strategy used by a Michigan union.
The brief, filed Friday, says the union officials of the Technical, Professional, and Officeworkers Association of Michigan “weaponizes” the grievance process to force nonmember public employees to pay fees to the union.
The case is Technical, Professional and Officeworkers Association of Michigan (TPOAM) v. Daniel Lee Renner, in which Saginaw County employee David Renner challenges TPOAM union “fee-for-grievance” arrangement.
The brief claims union officials deprive Renner and other nonmember public employees of any power to file grievances themselves and instead mandate they pay fees to use the union’s grievance system, an amount which often outweighs the sum of union dues.
Union officials demanded Renner pay $1,290 to process his grievance to the first stage. Additionally, the union said if the actual costs were higher as the proceeding continued, Renner would be responsible for more payments.
The Michigan Employment Relations Committee and the Michigan Court of Appeals have already rejected union officials’ arguments that they can refuse to file grievances for nonmembers unless nonmembers pay union fees.
The filing is the second amicus brief the Foundation submitted in the case. The brief says Michigan’s right-to-work repeal doesn’t legalize the “fee-for-grievance” strategy.
Michigan’s right-to-work protections prohibits union bosses from forcing workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment and remain valid until the repeal takes effect 90 days after the legislature adjourns, expected in early 2024.
The brief refutes union arguments that the “fee-for-grievance” scheme does not restrain or coerce Renner or other union nonmembers in violation of their right under Michigan’s Public Employment Relations Act to refrain from union activity.
“TPOAM union officials’ scheme forcing nonmember public employees to pay into a union grievance system is illegal, just as it was both before and during Right to Work’s enactment in Michigan,” NRWF President Mark Mix said in a statement. “As the Foundation’s amicus brief shows, TPOAM’s position ignores mountains of precedent and lets union bosses keep mandating fees designed to force dissenting workers into full union membership, in obvious violation of their rights.”
The brief says that the National Labor Relations Act, the federal law that PERA is based on, has consistently been interpreted “more broadly than simply prohibiting union or employer violence or heavy handed reprisals,” the brief points out.
The brief says the 1953 National Labor Relations Board case Hughes Tool Co. held that a union’s refusal to process a nonmember’s grievance because he did not pay a fee, violates workers’ right to refrain from union activity under the NLRA.
“Michigan public employees should also know that, as per the landmark Foundation-won Janus v. AFSCME U.S. Supreme Court decision, they can’t be fired for refusal to join or financially support a union,” Mix said.
The brief concludes, “TPOAM cavalierly defends its illegal fee on the basis that Renner made a choice to be a nonmember and he is the one requesting TPOAM assistance.” However, because Renner has a right under Michigan law to abstain from union activity, “[t]he fact TPOAM treated him differently because he exercised that statutory right is evidence it committed an unfair labor practice, not a defense.”
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Scott McClallen is a staff writer covering Michigan and Minnesota for The Center Square. A graduate of Hillsdale College, his work has appeared on Forbes.com and FEE.org.
Photo “Michigan Hall of Justice” by Subterranean. CC BY-SA 3.0.
