Ohlendorf v. United Food & Commerical Workers International Union, Local 876

Plaintiffs worked for Oleson’s in Michigan. The collective bargaining agreement between Oleson’s and the Union allowed Oleson’s to deduct union dues from employees’ paychecks if the employee signed an authorization form. That form provided that the authorization would be irrevocable for one year or until the termination of the agreement, and thereafter for yearly periods unless revoked by certified mail during a 15- day window. Plaintiffs joined the union and signed the authorization forms. Three years later, they resigned their membership but sent their permission revocations by regular, not certified, mail, outside of the 15-day window. The union refused to accept the revocations. The company continued to deduct dues. Plaintiffs filed a class action, claiming violation of the Labor Management Relations Act by imposing conditions on their ability to revoke their authorizations and by violation of its duty of fair representation. The Sixth Circuit affirmed dismissal of the complaint, noting that one plaintiff had quit and the other had successfully revoked his membership. The Act makes it a crime for an employer to willfully give money to a labor union, 29 U.S.C. 186(a,b), and for a union to willfully accept money from an employer, except money deducted from the wages for dues if the employer has received a written assignment. This criminal provision creates no civil cause of action; the union did not act arbitrarily or in bad faith. View "Ohlendorf v. United Food & Commerical Workers International Union, Local 876" on Justia Law