Brooklyn, NY – The New York State Conservative Party issued the following legislative memo today, calling on legislators to reject a bill that seeks to prevent public-sector employees from exercising their right to withdraw from paying union dues if the US Supreme Court grants it to them in the Janus v. AFSCME case. The memo follows:

2018 Legislative Memo…

In Opposition to…

S. 5778-A Alcantara (Calendar # 163) A. 7601-A Abbate (Calendar #532)

Purpose: To streamline the process for an individual to join a public-sector union.

Party Position: New York should be a right-to-work state. New York State government should not be in the business that allows unions to force people to pay dues, especially if the United States Supreme Court tells them not to.

Later this year, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to give public employees a choice about whether they have to pay a union to keep their job. For most employees, this will be the first time they’ve ever had a say in whether a union deducts money from their paycheck.

This legislation, however, would prevent them from exercising that choice by giving unions new powers to block people from leaving. Instead of letting people stop the deductions by telling their employer, this bill would force them to jump through whatever hoops the union constructs.

NYSUT, the statewide teacher’s union, has already proven it will use underhanded tactics to trap people by creating obstacles to people opting out of their union—like refusing to let teachers opt-out of the union except during the busy first two weeks of school. If enacted, this bill would put local governments in the middle of legal battles across the state, wasting taxpayer money.

If a local government is deducting money on behalf of an employee, whether that deduction continues should be decided by the local government and the employee.

The Conservative Party is strongly opposed to this proposal and urges a NO vote.

LM 2018-01