CWA v. Beck

1
CWA v. Beck

• Issue
• Today we must decide whether (Section 8(a)(3))
  permits a union over the objections of
  dues-paying nonmember employees, to expend funds
  so collected on activities unrelated to
  collective bargaining, contract administration,
  or grievance adjustment, and, if so, whether such
  expenditures violate the union's duty of fair
  representation or the objecting employees' First
  Amendment rights

2
Procedural/Jurisdictional Issues

• Board preemption of 8(a)(3) charge under Garmon
  not applicable here where
• Courts have jurisdiction over DFR and First
  amendment claims
• Union has based its defense on these claims and
  on 8(a)(3)
• UFLP claim collateral to claims courts may
  address
• DFR
• First amendment

3
Section 8(a)(3)

• Authorizes union shop provisions requiring
  membership in the union as a condition of
  employment
• Membership is financial core
• Only payments (dues and fees) required
• not allegiance

4
Funds Collected Under Union Shop Provisions

• Same as RLA (Street case)
• Limited to collective bargaining, etc.
• May not be used for political purposes, social
  purposes, etc.
• Rationale for union shop authorization is free
  rider problem
• Anything unrelated to free rider outside of
  permissible scope of union shop under 8(a)(3)

5

• Eleventh. Union security agreements check-off
• . . . any carrier or carriers as defined in this
  chapter and a labor organization or labor
  organizations duly designated and authorized to
  represent employees in accordance with the
  requirements of this chapter shall be
  permitted(a) to make agreements, requiring, as a
  condition of continued employment, that within
  sixty days following the beginning of such
  employment, or the effective date of such
  agreements, whichever is the later, all employees
  shall become members of the labor organization
  representing their craft or class Provided, That
  no such agreement shall require such condition of
  employment with respect to employees to whom
  membership is not available upon the same terms
  and conditions as are generally applicable to any
  other member or with respect to employees to whom
  membership was denied or terminated for any
  reason other than the failure of the employee to
  tender the periodic dues, initiation fees, and as
  assessments (not including fines and penalties)
  uniformly required as a condition of acquiring or
  retaining membership.

6

• (W)e construe 2, Eleventh as not vesting the
  unions with unlimited power to spend exacted
  money. . . . We have before us only the question
  whether the power is restricted to the extent of
  denying the unions the right, over the employee's
  objection, to use his money to support political
  causes which he opposes. Its use to support
  candidates for public office, and advance
  political programs, is not a use which helps
  defray the expenses of the negotiation or
  administration of collective agreements, or the
  expenses entailed in the adjustment of grievances
  and disputes. In other words, it is a use which
  falls clearly outside the reasons advanced by the
  unions and accepted by Congress why authority to
  make union-shop agreements was justified. On the
  other hand, it is equally clear that it is a use
  to support activities within the area of
  dissenters' interests which Congress enacted the
  proviso to protect. We give 2, Eleventh the
  construction which achieves both congressional
  purposes when we hold, as we do, that 2, Eleventh
  is to be construed to deny the unions, over an
  employee's objection, the power to use his
  exacted funds to support political causes which
  he opposes. (Intl Assoc. of Machinsts v. Street,
  U.S. Sup. Ct., 1961, 367 U.S. 740, 768-769  

7
Holding in Beck (Brennan w/Rehnquist, While,
Marshall, Stevens)

• We conclude that 8(a)(3), like its statutory
  equivalent, 2, Eleventh of the RLA, authorizes
  the exaction of only those fees and dues
  necessary to performing the duties of an
  exclusive representative of the employees in
  dealing with the employer on labor-management
  issues.
• What is incorporated in the definition of duties
  of an exclusive representative of the employees
  in dealing with the employer on labor-management
  issues?

8
What is a Collective Bargaining Expense?

• Organizing expenses may be included in collective
  bargaining expenses (UFCW Local 1036 v. NLRB, CA
  9, 2002, Docket No. 99-71317)
• Deference to Board decision and expertise on
  industrial relations matters
• organizing done in same competitive market
• TCE of nonunion competitors employees germane to
  unionized ees.

9
Can Notification of Beck Rights Be Required by
Exec. Order?

• A presidential executive order dated April 18,
  2001 which requires federal contractors to post a
  notice informing employees of their right to
  refuse to pay dues and fees greater than those
  necessary for bargaining is enjoined
  (UAW-Employment and Training Corp v. Chao,
  January 2, 2002, D.C. D.C., Civ. Action
  01cv00950)
• Inconsistent with, and preempted by, NLRA

10
Dissent (with partial concurrence) Blackmun w/
OConnor, Scalia

• Nothing in statute or legislative history that
  suggests that Congress attempting to limit how
  dues collected through a union shop could be
  expended
• Congress concerned only about
• closed shop
• Arbitrary and discriminatory denials of
  membership in the union

11
Note Principles of Statutory Interpretation

• Majority
• Statutory purpose
• Prevention of free riding
• Statutory Consistency
• With RLA

• Dissent
• Language
• Not addressed in statute
• Legislative History
• Not discussed