California Ballot Initiative "Bad News" (2/6/98)

California Ballot Initiative on Union Spending 'Bad Policy,'
Gould Tells Labor Conference

California ballot initiative that would require employers and unions to get written permission before withholding union dues or using the money to make campaign contributions "is mischievous, bad policy and, in all probability, unconstitutional," according to National Labor Relations Board Chairman William B. Gould.

Speaking Feb. 4 at a labor relations conference in Sacramento, Calif., sponsored by the University of California at Davis, Gould said he planned to vote against Initiative No. 746, called the Campaign Reform Initiative, by absentee ballot when the election is held in June. While serving as NLRB chairman, Gould has been on leave from his post as a professor at Stanford Law School.

"I shall cast my ballot against 746 because I think that it is designed to deny unions and working families a voice in our society - -- a voice which is frequently needed both in politics and collective bargaining because of the relationship between unions and working conditions and the standard of living for employees," Gould explained.

If the initiative were enacted and sustained by the courts, "the necessarily detailed and regrettably cornplicated rules which we have established in this area will become enormously more convoluted," the chairman asserted.

Beck Ruling at Issue. The U.S. Supreme Court held in 1988 that nonmember employees who have to pay union dues as a condition of employment, as a result of union security clauses in collective bargaining agreements, may request a refund of the portion of those fees used for purposes other than collective bargaining (Communications Workers of America v. Beck, 128 LRRM 2729).

Gould charged that "746 would sow confusion by reversing the Supreme Court's Beck holding that the obligation or burden is properly placed upon dissidents who object to union dues put to political purposes." Not only would California have different rules, but unions in other states that contribute money to California political campaigns would have to follow different rules, according to the chairman.

Citing his experience as a labor lawyer and a teacher of constitutional law, Gould said: "I think it likely that the courts will ultimately declare 746 unconstitutional because of its potential and real conflict with the federal statutory scheme." He noted that Congress has not amended the National Labor Relations Act to expressly give the states this type of role in labor-management relations.

The House Education and the Workforce Committee in October 1997 approved the Republican-sponsored Worker Paycheck Fairness Act (HR 1625), which also would require unions to obtain prior written approval from members before spending any dues money on political or other purposes not related to collective bargaining.

(DLR-BNA, 2-6-98)