Posted on: Thursday, June 12, 2003

Judge tells UH union to stop collecting fees

Associated Press

A federal judge has ordered the University of Hawai'i faculty union to stop collecting dues from nonmembers while a class action lawsuit challenging the legality of such collections is pending.

U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor issued the injunction last week, the National Right to Work Defense Foundation said.

The Springfield, Va.-based organization filed the lawsuit on behalf of Sandra Swanson, an instructor at Maui Community College, who contends that the union is improperly collecting money from nonmembers.

Federal law allows unions in Hawai'i to collect "agency fees" equal to the cost of full union dues from nonmembers, but the union is required to open its records to make sure nonmembers are not subsidizing union activities unrelated to collective bargaining.