West Virginia’s attorney general has appealed a judge’s ruling blocking the state’s new right-to-work law from taking effect while the court challenge against it continues.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey has asked the state Supreme Court to vacate the preliminary injunction, arguing that the state AFL-CIO and other unions that sued won’t face irreparable damage.
The unions maintain the law constitutes illegally taking union assets since they still have to represent all employees in a union shop including those that the law would allow to stop paying union dues.
The attorney general says the delay has created confusion, the state is hurt being unable to enforce its own laws and the unions are unlikely to win the case.
He wants the case considered before the court’s June recess.
Senators approved a bill Monday to clarify West Virginia’s right-to-work law that the Legislature passed last year. The law has yet to take effect because it’s been tied up in a court case in Kanawha County.
After the original bill was approved last year, unions in the state filed a lawsuit challenging it.
Last week, a Kanawha County Circuit Judge ruled against the state on two issues brought in that case.
The first, that the bill was unconstitutional because it forced unions to represent workers who don’t pay union dues in contract negotiations—negotiations that cost the union money. The second, that there were parts of the law that were too vague to be enforced.
Senate Judiciary Chair Charles Trump explained that this session’s Senate Bill 330, amending the West Virginia Workplace Freedom Act, does not affect the constitutionality question but removes language the judge ruled as unclear. That language attempted to address concerns about collective bargaining, protecting the ability to negotiate under the law.
Senators approved the bill on a party-line vote, but members on both sides of the aisle returned to the discussion over the constitutionality of the right-to-work law after the vote.
The court order says forcing unions to represent workers in contract negotiations who do not pay the dues would essentially be taking the property of the union, but Trump maintains saying a union must represent all of the workers in a workplace is false. Unions can choose to negotiate contracts only for the union members.
Credit Will Price / West Virginia Legislative Photography
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West Virginia Legislative Photography
Sen. Mike Romano giving a floor speech during the 2017 session.
“If you create the legal fiction that a union has to represent everybody, then it flows from that that you allow people to receive the benefit of that without paying dues,” he said, “but it’s a legal fiction. The law allows members-only negotiations in contracts.”
Democrats like Sen. Mike Romano, of Harrison County, disagreed. Romano said he’s more concerned about the legal precedent the vote on Senate Bill 330 sets.
“I think it’s a bad precedent for us to be able, to be changing laws in order to address court cases,” he said. “It disrupts the court system, it disrupts the constitutional separation of powers amongst the three branches because what we do it we go in and change the playing field after the courts have spent a tremendous amount of time and resources in order to come with an answer.”
Senate Bill 330 goes to the House of Delegates for further consideration.
The lawsuit over the state’s right-to-work law has prevented it from taking effect, but its likely the case will be heard in the West Virginia Supreme Court.
The head of West Virginia’s largest workers union is retiring after more than a decade of service.
West Virginia AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue announced his retirement this week in an email to union members.
Perdue has led the union since 2004 and previously served as the union’s vice president and secretary-treasurer. Before that, he served as a local union leader and has been involved in organized labor for more than four decades.
A native of Clarksburg, Perdue is also a member of the West Virginia Workforce Investment Council.
In his written statement, Perdue said he will step down at the end of the year and looks forward to spending more time with his family.
His email said:
After more than four decades of working in the labor movement and nearly 20 years with the West Virginia AFL-CIO, I have decided to retire at the end of this year. While I look forward to spending more time with my wife and family (which includes eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren), this decision didn’t come easily. Throughout my years of service, I have been inspired by the work ethic, integrity and kindness of working West Virginians, who ask for no more than the fair wages, quality benefits and safe workplaces they deserve. I am deeply grateful for your support of our efforts, and look forward to assisting as the West Virginia AFL-CIO and the labor movement across our country continues this critical work.
Perdue’s retirement comes at a transitional time for unions in West Virginia. Lawmakers have passed legislation during the past two years that union leaders like Perdue call an attacks on workers.
That legislation includes a repeal of the state’s prevailing wage and the passage of a bill that prevents unions from automatically collecting dues from non-union workers. The right-to-work law is being held up in a state court because of a lawsuit led by several unions, including the AFL-CIO.
A circuit judge blocked the implementation of a new right-to-work law in West Virginia Wednesday.
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Bailey ordered the injunction during a hearing in her Charleston courtroom. The decision blocks West Virginia’s right-to-work law from taking effect until the court makes a final decision on its constitutionality.
The bill became law after legislators overturned Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s initial veto during the 2016 legislative session.
Law in 25 other states, right-to-work provisions allow employees in union workplaces to opt out of paying dues. Unions, however, are required by federal law to represent all employees in a union workplace whether they pay dues or not.
In the lawsuit, West Virginia union leaders allege the law is unconstitutional because non-due paying employees will still be represented in contract negotiations, employment disputes and other matters by union personnel, but without paying dues, other union members will have to pay more out of pocket to make up for the lost revenues that provide such services.
The AFLO-CIO and ten other unions filed the suit against the state of West Virginia earlier this year.
During the Wednesday hearing, Judge Bailey also ruled all 11 cases could be consolidated into one. The judge anticipates the case will be resolved within 90 days.
A union challenge of West Virginia’s new “right-to-work” law is slated for a court hearing.
A West Virginia AFL-CIO news release says the hearing will take place Wednesday in Kanawha County Circuit Court in front of Judge Jennifer Bailey.
The AFL-CIO and 10 other unions are seeking an injunction to block the law. The law took effect for new and updated contracts starting July 1.
Unions also want their separate challenges combined.
The unions contend the law is an illegal taking of union property and resources. State Chamber of Commerce President Steve Roberts, a right-to-work advocate, said the challenge was not unexpected.
The legislation allows employees in union shops to opt out of paying union dues. Employees still receive union benefits and representation, whether they pay dues or not.
Cigarettes are getting more expensive in West Virginia.
To balance the state budget, West Virginia will raise its cigarette tax by 65 cents to $1.20 a pack starting Friday. E-cigarette and other tobacco product taxes will also increase. The hike is expected to raise $98 million annually.
The move helps fill a budget hole left by sputtering coal and low natural gas prices.
July 1 starts the budget year, and several other laws also are taking effect.
Coal and natural gas producers will get a tax break of $110 million combined. They had been paying surcharges to cover a workers’ compensation debt for years.
A right-to-work law is kicking in. New and updated collective bargaining agreements starting Friday can’t require workers to pay union dues as a condition of employment.
