Workers for Opportunity Applauds Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor’s Writ of Certiorari
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 23, 2023
CONTACT: WFO Press Team press@workersforopportunity.com
MIDLAND, Mich. — Today, Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor, with the support of Governor Mike Dunleavy and on behalf of the State of Alaska, filed a petition seeking a writ of certiorari before the Supreme Court of the United States – asking the Court to hear the state’s case in defense of a policy that strengthened Alaskan employees’ First Amendment rights.
“Workers for Opportunity applauds this action and urges the Supreme Court to take up this case and affirm workers’ First Amendment rights,” said Vinnie Vernuccio, labor policy senior fellow at Workers for Opportunity. “Alaska is protecting the rights of their public employees. It is critical that they have the necessary information to make an informed decision about union membership and given the opportunity to opt-in – not saddled with the burden of opting out – with the ability to make that decision or change that decision at any time.
Additional Background:
In 2019, the Alaska Attorney General issued an opinion, based on his reading of SCOTUS’s landmark decision in Janus v. AFSCME, declaring that the State of Alaska has a responsibility to ensure that employers have proof of consent from every public employee before any dues can be deducted from those employees’ paychecks.
In short, the opinion asserted that the Janus decision meant it was no longer sufficient to simply take the unions word for it when processing union dues deductions. Employees must consent to these deductions directly. On the heels of this opinion, Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued an administrative order to implement an opt-in practice for state employees.
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