Crane was represented by the National Right to Work Foundation, a Virginia-based non-profit organization that provides free legal assistance to him and others who don’t want to be compelled to be in unions, Messenger said.
Crane, who did not wish to be interviewed, is an Auto Equipment Operator II for Hamilton’s Infrastructure Department, working in the Gas & Water Distribution Division, His rate of pay is $28.56 hourly, or $59,405 a year. In 2019, he paid $846.34 in union dues.
Crane released a statement through the foundation saying, “This case was about protecting my right to not pay for a political agenda that I oppose. I’m in favor of fair wages and a safe working environment. What I’m not in favor of is a union using my hard earned money to support a political party that I disagree with and that is dividing the country.”
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 ruled that public employees had a 1st Amendment right not to be compelled to pay union dues or fees, in a case called Janus vs. AFSCME.
The Janus decision “basically outlawed compulsory union-fee requirements in Ohio,” said Messenger, who had argued the Janus case before the high court.
Attorney Robert Mitchell, who represented IUOE in the matter, was unavailable to comment, as was IUOE Local 20.
But unions have decried the 2018 Janus ruling, saying it was issued by an ideologically divided Supreme Court.
“Corporate-funded organizations such as the National Right to Work Foundation and the State Policy Network are certainly invested,” the AFL-CIO wrote on its website about it. “These organizations are part of a network funded by corporate billionaires who want to use the courts to rig the rules against working people. They want to strike a ‘mortal blow’ and ‘defund and defang’ unions, and they fund politicians who carry their water.”
“When the state of Ohio says you have to pay fees to the union to keep your job, in that instance, the government is basically compelling that individual to fund the union’s speech, and also to fund that organization,” Messenger said.
Even though Crane won’t be paying dues to IUOE Local 20, the union still will be compelled to represent him in some circumstances, Messenger said.
“The Supreme Court held back in the ‘40s that that power of exclusive representation carries with it a duty to fairly represent everyone in the unit, because the union can’t have that power over everyone, without the duty that comes attached to it,” Messenger said. “So it’s illegal for unions to discriminate between employees based upon their membership in the union.”
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