Posted on 02/25/2011 8:48:11 AM PST by doug from upland
RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION LETTER regarding union dues
Union Dues Exemption Sample Letter Sample Letter
Date
Name, President Name of Union Address City, State, Zip
Dear (PRESIDENT’S NAME):
I have been informed that under the collective bargaining agreement between (UNION AND LOCAL #) and (COMPANY), I am being asked to join the union. I am herewith requesting exemption from the above.
It is my sincere religious conviction that I cannot join or financially support an employee’s union. This request is not based on any hard feelings toward any individual or to the labor organization. Rather, it is based on principles I have found in God’s Word and as taught by my church. The attached letter from my church pastor and my denomination’s official position statement will verify this. I am requesting, based on my religious belief, that (NAME OF UNION) make accommodation for my religious observance, practice and belief, as provided for in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and as amended in 1972, and by the EEOC guidelines. These statutory exemptions are reinforced by the National Labor Relations Act (and State Government Code).
In harmony with the provisions stipulated in the above statues, I will be glad to pay the equivalent of the dues and fees to a mutually agreeable non-labor, non-religious charity. I will submit to you copies of my receipts as proof of payment. I request that this be initiated immediately in lieu of requiring me to become a dues-paying union member or to tender my dues under an agency shop provision. I am not authorizing a check-off of my dues.
To facilitate this request I am submitting a “Labor Union Agreement” to serve as a memorandum of understanding, which I have filled out and signed. The charity may be filled in when we determine this. The form then needs union and employer authorizing signatures with a completed copy returned to me to confirm this exemption.
Thank you for granting this request.
Sincerely,
(SIGN YOUR NAME)
(PRINT YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS)
Enc.: Letter from my Church Pastor My denomination’s official position statement Labor Union Agreement
cc: Alan J. Reinach, Esq., Executive Director Church State Council
(YOUR PASTOR’S NAME)
SCOTUS ruling in Beck v CWA is recommended.
Very creative. Nice touch.
If you are a, say, Jehovah Witness, can the JW opt out of Labor dues for the political contribution portion in all 50 states?
There are religions that opt out of politics but are there set guidelines for opting out of unions already in place?
Or will this be the precedent?
The ACLJ is prepared to defend it. Not sure if there has been a court case that has reached Appellate or Supreme Court level.
http://www.aclj.org/News/Read.aspx?ID=479
Since when do pastors and Church denominations (other than the liberal ones) take a position on labor relations?
I see they are willing to bend for a 'portion' of dues but not the full-boat.
But this sentence:
Another possible accommodation is discounting the union dues in proportion to the amount of money spent on the objectionable union activity
Seems WIDE open!
What religions shun union membership as a pure entity?
(I don't even want to go here-but-Islam maybe?-What else?)
I haven’t seen the pastor’s letter. My assumption is that such letter would verify the worker’s membership in the church to show his religious views were sincere. If there is a pastor in a pulpit telling its members to dump the union, I’d like to have that info.
Union-dues exemptions broadened
Tuesday, June 26, 2007 3:34 AM
By James Nash
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
No employee should have to pay dues to a labor union whose political positions conflict with his or her religious convictions, a federal court in Ohio has ruled.
The Columbus-based U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio ruled that a Roman Catholic teacher cannot be forced to pay dues to the National Education Association because its views on abortion conflict with her own.
Judge Gregory L. Frost’s ruling, issued Thursday, broadens the category of employees who may opt out of unions because of religious beliefs. Ohio law held that only Seventh-day Adventists and Amish Mennonites may do so.
Frost wrote that anyone with demonstrated religious beliefs should be exempt from paying dues to unions whose positions they find objectionable. He struck down the Ohio law that held that only members of religions that “historically held conscientious objections” to union membership could opt out.
The ruling was a victory for Carol Katter, a teacher in the St. Marys school district in western Ohio. She refused to pay NEA dues because she said the union supports abortion rights.
Katter, a lifelong Roman Catholic, sued the State Employment Relations Board after the state panel ruled against her claim for a religious exemption.
“I was not going to give my money to those (union) organizations because I’m a life person and I don’t agree with abortion at all,” Katter said in an interview yesterday. “I was not going to give 1 cent to those causes.”
Arthur J. Marziale Jr., executive director of the State Employment Relations Board, declined to comment in detail on the ruling. He said board officials are consulting with their attorneys on whether to appeal.
Marziale said the board simply was enforcing state law — now ruled unconstitutional by Frost — that defined religious exemptions more narrowly.
The National Education Association and Ohio Education Association did not return calls for comment.
In his ruling, Frost wrote that the state law discriminates among religions by recognizing the Seventh-day Adventist and Mennonite objections to joining unions while denying Catholics and others the ability to refuse dues to unions whose views they find immoral.
“The statute further differentiates between two employees who have the same religious beliefs, are members of churches with formal doctrines against supporting labor unions, but one of the churches has recently embraced a doctrine, while the other church has historically embraced it,” Frost wrote.
Katter and others who opt out of unions will have to pay the equivalent of their dues to a qualified non-religious charity, the judge decided. They will be entitled to the protections of the union, such as collective bargaining.
The National Right to Work Foundation, which opposes mandatory union membership, bankrolled Katter’s legal fight. Foundation spokesman Patrick Semmens said he expects similar cases to arise.
“Until you deal with the issue of forced union dues, these issues are going to come up again and again as union bosses try to force employees to pay union dues they don’t want to pay,” Semmens said.
It has been established that all of the dues money can go to a charity by using the religious exemption, if the person qualifies and it is a valid religious belief. A member can also demand a refund of the portion of the dues used for political purposes. I have helped a few teacher friends do just that. One of them was visited by three union thugs in her classroom after school when they received the refund letter, but she stood firm and did not back down.
VERY HELPFUL INFO HERE = http://choosecharity.org/faq_page.htm
Thanks Doug,
But does it include a new set of tires to replace the ones that will be slashed? Seriously, IN is considering RTW, and I’ve already gotten a somewhat threatening notice from fellow “brothers” that want a list of members who would are interested in RTW.
That is the problem. There is strength in numbers, and it may take others to join the effort. The union thugs are not going to just sit back and take it.
Actually the letter explicitly states:
It is my sincere religious conviction that I cannot join or financially support an employee’s union. ... it is based on principles I have found in God’s Word and as taught by my church. The attached letter from my church pastor and my denomination’s official position statement will verify this.
I know of NO Christian denomination (except maybe Amish???) conservative or liberal, which forbids membership in a labor union or has an "official position statement" about the subject.
I would be highly suspicious of any pastor or denomination who would take a position either--given that anything resembling unions were unknown in Bible times.
To me this letter is a bunch of nonsense--as you have the natural right to work, and be a part of a union, or not, for ANY REASON regardless of religious conviction.
I understand the effort to get around unjust laws using religion--but, it appears to me to be a misuse of religion.
That letter was pulled from a Christian site as an example. Here is actually the requirements of the law and how it has been interpreted:
Q: Who qualifies as a “Religious Objector”?
A: Title VII of the Civil Rights Act accommodates persons who object on religious grounds to the payment of union dues by allowing them to give to a charitable organization as a substitute form of payment. The courts have uniformly interpreted this provision to require accommodation through substitute charitable payment.
a.) What if the union requests to see my church doctrine or a letter from my pastor?
Unions cannot require objectors to submit church doctrine statements that demonstrate religious convictions against supporting unions. Two court decisions have declared a union objector needs only to explain his/her sincere religious objection and it does not have to be supported by any official church doctrine. The employee simply has an obligation to provide a sufficient description of their religious belief or conviction to prove that it is in fact a sincere belief. For example, you can quote religious scripture or discuss religious experiences (e.g., “God convicted me of . . .”).
Unions also cannot request to see letters from clergy. In some instances, uncooperative unions have tried to discourage workers from transferring their union dues to charities by demanding statements from clergy or church leaders. The courts have ruled in favor of the employees, stating that they must only thoroughly explain why it is against their earnest religious beliefs, nothing more.
I think the only proper religious objection I could raise would be “Thou shalt not steal” (Exod. 20:15) and how I cannot participate in any organization which steals, like Unions certainly do under forced unionization laws.
The religious exemption argument I would make is that my money is going to an organization that supports and advocates abortion, partial birth abortion, and gay marriage.
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