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(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates HB 861

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Labor Department

State Personnel Office

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 787 would require all employers who collect union dues from their employees to notify employees of rights regarding use of collected union dues. Specifically, the bill would require:

• •Employers to post in a conspicuous location a notice disclosing employees rights regarding use of collected dues. The notice would state that in accordance with the United States Supreme Court Decision Communication Workers of America v. Beck (1988), employees rights regarding collected dues include that a union is not permitted to expend dues for fees collected from employees on activities unrelated to collective bargaining activities and may only collect dues and fees necessary to finance collective bargaining activities. It would also report political causes and community outreach programs are activities unrelated to collective bargaining and collective bargaining fees and dues may not be used to finance them.



• •The director of Labor and Industrial Division (LID) of the Labor Department to prepare and furnish posters containing the notice about use of union dues and fees. LID is responsible for enforcing compliance with the requirement that the posters be conspicuously displayed.
• •Employers to obtain written permission from an employee before using union dues or fees for political purposes.



• •Unions that engage in mandatory withholding of dues or fees from nonmember employees to report annually the withholding and the amounts withheld along with expenditures by category to the Secretary of State. Categories includes collective bargaining, organizing, developing safety programs, partisan political campaigns, political issue education and voter registration.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The Labor Department estimates that it would cost the Labor and Industrial Division about $4,500 to comply with the posting requirement. They assume 4,500 employers have unionized employees and that posters cost $1.00 each. There is no appropriation to pay for this, so they say that they would have to reduce operating expenses for other efforts to absorb the costs.

BT/sb