Fighting for Free Speech in Critique: In Defense of Minority Union Workers

A local union consisting mostly of racial minorities was recommended for dissolution and transfer of its members into two other local unions because its officers (racial minorities) and members criticized the mostly white staff and officers of the intermediate labor organization to which the local belonged (AFSCME Joint Council 93) of undemocratic and discriminatory governance of the Joint Council. The President of the International approved the dissolution and transfers.  As it had the right to do, the Local appealed the decision to the Executive Board of the International (the “IEB”), but the International never allowed it to have a hearing before the IEB. The Local and its members sued in federal court. The trial court found the operation of the Joint Council to be undemocratic, in violation of the International Union Constitution’s Bill of Rights, and in violation of the LMRDA’s (a/k/a Landrum Griffin Act) equal voting rights provisions. It denied the claim for the right to an IEB hearing and the claim that the dissolution and transfers constituted unlawful retaliation.  The Court of Appeals vacated the decision of the District Court, ordering an IEB hearing or reinstatement, and vacated the finding that the dissolution and transfer were not retaliatory. At the Plaintiffs’ request, the question of whether the dissolution and transfer were retaliatory will be addressed in the first instance by the IEB in September 2019 , and returned to the trial judge only if that claim is rejected by the IEB. The Plaintiffs are represented by Mark Stern, a Mass. Chapter member.

Written by Mark Stern