Rauner move on fair-share fees flops in federal court
On Monday, March 23, U.S. District Court Judge Staci Yandle ruled that a state court, and not a federal court, should hear a lawsuit filed by AFSCME and other unions seeking to invalidate Gov. Bruce Rauner’s executive order barring the collection of fair share fees from bargaining unit employees who choose not to join the union.
Under state law, unions are permitted to collect fees from non-members who the unions are required to represent. Those fees cover the cost of union representation and ensure that union members are not paying all the costs for the non-members’ representation.
The unions’ lawsuit, brought by the Illinois AFL-CIO, AFSCME and more than two dozen other unions, was originally filed in St. Clair County Circuit Court. Rauner, named as a defendant in the suit, acted on his own to move the case from state court to federal court.
Rauner’s maneuver was an attempt to avoid having to answer for his blatant violation of the union contract and of state law. He attempted to persuade a federal judge that the union’s lawsuit raised issues of federal law and should, therefore, be addressed by a federal court. If he had been successful, it would have complicated efforts to get a restraining order against the governor that unions are seeking in state court.
The unions petitioned the federal court to remand the case back to the St. Clair County Circuit Court. On March 23, Judge Yandle granted that motion, completely rejecting Rauner’s arguments and ruling that the unions’ suit concerns only state law and should therefore be decided in state court.
Rauner has filed a separate lawsuit in federal court in Cook County seeking a declaratory judgment that fair-share fees are unconstitutional under the U.S. Constitution. He is also requesting a court order establishing an escrow account for the fees he is already withholding while the federal lawsuit is pending.
Without that escrow account, and without any legal authorization, Rauner has ordered state agencies to cut the gross pay of all fee-payers by the amount that would normally be deducted for fair share, and to keep that amount in the agencies’ own budgets. The reduction of gross pay will also alter those employees’ other deductions, including the amount that is supposed to be withheld for taxes and pensions.
On Monday, the legal arms of the National Right-to-Work Foundation and the Illinois Policy Institute announced they were seeking to intervene in the federal lawsuit Rauner had already filed in Cook County on behalf of three state employees who do not want to pay any fair-share fees. Both the Right-to-Work foundation and the IPI are working to dismantle unions in the United States. Lawyers representing unions have filed a motion asking that Rauner’s suit be dismissed.
The Governor’s actions are, in his own words, intended to prevent unions from “using ... fair share fees to ... influence...wages, pensions and benefits.” By depriving unions of resources needed for bargaining, litigation, grievance processing, and other core union activities, he is hoping to weaken unions and drive down employees’ wages and benefits.
As both the state case and the federal case unfold, visit Council 31’s website and Facebook page for updates.