Judicial ‘Doomsday’ Weapon

Phony ‘Takings’ Case Against Right to Work Could Reach Supreme Court in Two Years.

Undoubtedly fearing they would provoke a harsh public backlash if they did, top union bosses aren’t talking publicly about the spectacular judicial prize they intend to win if Big Labor candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) is elected the next President of the United States. (as of this posting date, of course, we know that she did not win, but the same strategy and others are actively being pursued.)

But some of the union hierarchy’s incautious allies, such as former American Federation of Teachers (AFT/AFL-CIO) Deputy Director of Organizing Shaun Richman, have already let the cat out of the bag.

Writing for the avowedly socialist publication In These Times this April, Mr. Richman gloated about the potential impact of International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) v. Wasden, a then-obscure lawsuit pending before a federal judge in Idaho:

“The result could be that all right-to-work laws are nullified — and sooner than you might imagine.”

“Union bosses are flabbergasted and outraged about the fact that a majority of states have now adopted laws prohibiting forced union dues and fees,” said National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix.

“But Big Labor sees a chance to kill Right to Work before it spreads to even more states. Union kingpins are jumping at the opportunity.

“Of course, union strategists know that their scheme to ‘nullify’ every single state Right to Work law through judicial activism in the near future can’t possibly succeed without the installation of another U.S. Supreme Court justice who would side with Organized Labor on controversial matters.

“Union bosses are spending roughly two billion dollars in this campaign cycle, mostly forced-dues dollars, to install Hillary Clinton in the White House and elect other Big Labor puppets to U.S. Senate and House seats and state offices,” said Mr. Mix.

“If that happens, Right to Work Foundation attorneys and their allies will continue to do everything possible to block IUOE Local 370 and other similar cases from reaching the Supreme Court, or to defeat such a case there if necessary.

Phony ‘Takings’ Case Against Right to Work Could Reach Supreme Court in Two Years

IUOE Local 370 and a second pending anti-Right to Work federal lawsuit target workplaces where Big Labor is empowered by law to represent all front-line employees, including union members and nonmembers alike, throughout all negotiations with the employer on matters concerning all terms of employment.

According to Big Labor lawyers, union officials in such workplaces have a constitutional right to seize forced fees from nonmembers on pain of termination if they refuse.

As Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, who is leading the defense of the Gem State’s three-decade-old Right to Work law from IUOE bosses’ legal assault, has pointed out in a court filing, such statutes cannot possibly violate the Fifth Amendment’s “Takings” Clause, (which states that “private property [shall not] be taken for public use, without just compensation.”) as union lawyers brazenly claim.

As the office of Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden has explained in a brief to Judge Lodge, the Gem State’s Right to Work law and other such laws cannot possibly constitute in themselves or facilitate a “Taking” from the plaintiffs, the bosses of Pasco, Wash.-based Local 370 of the International Union of Operating Engineers. The fact is, under Idaho’s Right to Work law, IUOE and other union bosses are absolutely free to “persuade nonmembers to make voluntary payments” by convincing them that the union furnishes valuable services.

Mr. Mix commented: “Unfortunately, the fact that Big Labor’s judicial attack on Right to Work laws is illogical and in conflict with several High Court and other federal court precedents doesn’t mean it will fail.

“Within a year or so, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the most radically pro-forced unionism federal appellate court in the U.S., could take up IUOE Local 370. Despite the merits, I wouldn’t bet that this court will rule against the union bosses.”

“And if such a ruling comes down, Big Labor’s ‘doomsday’ weapon against Right to Work laws will, within another year, likely be headed to the Supreme Court,” warned Mr. Mix.

He added that he and other Committee leaders are already preparing for a “worst-case” scenario in which Hillary Clinton is elected and proceeds to nominate a judge with a record of forced-unionism bias for the open seat on the Supreme Court.

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