Legal group sues public-sector unions over workers’ rights issues
[March 13, 2025]
By Tom Joyce | The Center Square contributor
(The Center Square) – The Liberty Justice Center filed three lawsuits on
behalf of government employees against their public sector unions.
The lawsuits come six years after the Janus v. AFSCME landmark case,
when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public-sector employees don’t
have to pay union dues to have a job.
However, government workers are still having their rights violated by
public-sector unions, according to the Liberty Justice Center.
The Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit for Andre Sneed, who works as
a laborer for the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways,
against Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA), Local
1092. The lawsuit alleges LiUNA still requires Sneed to pay union dues
even after he resigned his union membership, violating his First
Amendment rights.
LiUNA argues Sneed signed an authorization that is “irrevocable for the
duration of time that [he] remains in a bargaining unit represented by
the Union,” meaning that the union argues even though Sneed is no longer
a member, he has to pay union dues throughout his employment.
This contradicts the Janus v. AFSCME decision, the Liberty Justice
Center argues.
The Liberty Justice Center filed this case (Sneed v. Laborers’
International Union of North America) in the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of Illinois on Tuesday, March 11.
Additionally, Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit for Martine
Uniatowski. She is a part-time employee for Bay Village City School
District in Ohio, who is suing the Ohio Association of Public School
Employees (OAPSE) Local 579 for violating her rights.
“During a meeting between HR and Ms. Uniatowski, union representatives
who were present supposedly to protect Ms. Uniatorwski’s interests
instead strong-armed her into signing a union membership agreement,” the
release said. “Although Ms. Uniatowski didn’t have her reading glasses
and couldn’t read what she was signing, the union representative
pressured her to sign the membership agreement, and she relied on his
representation of what it said in doing so.”
Once Uniatowski saw how much she had to pay in union dues, she resigned
and tried to stop the union due deductions. However, her request was
denied three times in the year after signing her union membership
agreement, LJC maintains.
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Mark Janus, the plaintiff in Janus vs. AFSCME, speaks to supporters
outside the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, Feb. 26, 2018. - Dan
McCaleb \ The Center Square
Though Uniatowksi no longer belongs to the union, she has paid union
dues for over a year.
“The deduction of dues from her paychecks violates Ms. Uniatowksi’s
First Amendment rights as protected by Janus since she has no
provided affirmative consent to take dues,” the release said.
The Liberty Justice Center filed this case (Uniatowski v. OAPSE
Local 579) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of
Ohio on Tuesday, March 11.
Liberty Justice Center filed a third case for three Chicago Transit
Authority (CTA) bus operators, Nicole Williams, Christopher
Williams, and Miguel Perez, all Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU)
Local 241 members.
The union’s bylaws say it must conduct an annual financial audit and
draft semi-annual audit reports. Union members must receive these
reports at meetings. However, the union failed to provide such
audits and audit reports to these three despite making multiple
requests, according to LJC.
“The Liberty Justice Center filed the lawsuit to compel the union to
release the audits and audit reports to plaintiffs, who, as
dues-paying union members, have a right to review the financial
records of the union,” the release said. “This follows on the heels
of Weiss v. Chicago Teachers Union, a case filed by LJC in October
2024 that demands the CTU produce its missing audits.”
The Liberty Justice Center filed the case (Chicago Transit Authority
v. Amalgamated Transit Union) in the Circuit Court for Cook County
of Illinois, Chancery Division, on March 11, 2025.
“Public-sector unions continue to place barriers for government
employees who wish to stop being union members and stop paying union
dues in ways that violate the Supreme Court’s Janus decision.”
Jeffrey Schwab, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, said
in the release. “And although those unions are supposed to only
collect dues from members, these unions often refuse to be held
accountable by their own members for how they spend those dues.”
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