Steven M. Swirsky, a Member of the Firm in the Labor and Employment and Health Care and Life Sciences practices, in the firm's New York office, was quoted by Society for Human Resource Management, in “NLRB May Legitimize Union Fees in Right-to-Work States,” by Allen Smith.

Following is an excerpt:

In right-to-work states, union security clauses that require bargaining-unit employees to become members and pay dues and fees as a condition of continued employment are unlawful, noted Steven Swirsky, an attorney with Epstein, Becker & Green in New York City. “The board has long held that it is an unfair labor practice for a union to require nonmembers who are employed in a bargaining unit as to which it is the exclusive representative to pay a fee as a condition of having their grievances processed, including taken to arbitration,” Swirsky said. …

In the case before the board, Jimmie Ray Williams has alleged that the United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, Local 1192, AFL-CIO, CLC (Buckeye Florida Corp.) violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by informing him that if he wanted the union to process his grievance concerning an alleged overtime violation, he would be required to pay the union a fair share fee, even though he was in Florida, a right-to-work state. The fee was equal to the dues paid by union members for the remainder of the term of the collective bargaining agreement in effect, Swirsky noted.

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