SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — A group of bus drivers filed a federal lawsuit this week against the South Jersey Transportation Authority and their union, the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 196. They say the union has continued to deduct dues from their paychecks even after they opted out of membership.
The nonprofit National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is representing the drivers free of charge. The suit says "each Plaintiff had union dues seized from their wages after January 1, 2022, despite providing a notice of withdrawal prior to that date."
“IFPTE officials are demonstrating they clearly value union dues revenue over the rights of the workers they claim to ‘represent.’ Not only are those officials rebuffing clear notice from workers that they no longer want to support the union’s activities, but they’re enforcing a more restrictive dues policy about which workers had absolutely no knowledge,” National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix said.
Mix referred to a U.S. Supreme Court case, Janus v. AFSCME in 2018, as precedent. That case established that forcing public employees to be members of a union as a condition of employment was a violation of First Amendment rights.
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“That standard was clearly not met here,” Mix said.
An SJTA spokeswoman said they cannot comment on pending litigation. KYW Newsradio requested comment from representatives at IFPTE but have not heard back from them.